Memory with You
by Sesshomaru-Lover93
Summary: With her home world lost to the darkness and Ketblade in hand, Sora travels to other worlds in hopes of finding her friends Riku and Kairi. She meets new people and makes new friends, opening her eyes about what else fate may hold in the skies.
1. The Beginning

Hey everyone! This is my first story so I don't expect it to be my very best, but I got this idea from looking at Kingdom Hearts II for a while, and playing the first and second thru a couple times. I was thinking along the lines of how Sora looked kind of like a girl in the game. I'm not really a big yaoi or yuri person so I knew this wouldn't be quite that kind of story. Basically Sora is a girl! I thought it would be kewl since all those hotties from FF games are in the game and Sora befriends them all so that could get interesting if you knew my mind very well. I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor any of it's characters, including Disney.

Sesshomaru-lover93

_'Sora's thoughts'_

"Speech"

* * *

_Sora felt like she was falling. Her eyes felt heavily lidded and when she opened them, there was water seemingly all around. Few thoughts were processed through her mind;_

_'I've been having these weird thoughts lately...Is any of this for real... or not?'_

_As she continued her descent, she began to notice the nauseated feelings dissipate, which left her slightly more alert. The water or whatever it was darkened slightly, until there was only light where she was going to land. _

_Turning upright Sora looked around in wonder, her mind in overload about where she was. She landed on what seemed to be nothing for only darkness surrounded her. Taking a slight step forward, Sora covered her eyes when doves began flying all over._

_What they revealed was something of wonder, a giant stain glass portrait which held a lovely picture of a girl._

_'So much to do... So Little time... Take your time, don't be afraid.'_

_Sora felt slightly alarmed as she heard the weird voice. Generally she'd like to consider herself a pretty sane person, but that was in question._

_'The Door is still shut. Now, step forward. Can you do it?'_

_Running forward, Sora reached the light and steadied herself as three objects appeared. A shield, a sword, and a staff. She grabbed the sword, because wherever she was seemed better to have this. It disappeared in her hands and for a moment she was surprised.  
_

_'Your path is set. Now what will you give up in exchange?'_

_Sora looked between the staff and shield. The staff seemed like it would hold power beyond her dreams, but the shield would always protect her... Sora grabbed the staff and watched it too disappear. _

_"Weird..."_

_She fell off the pedestal she was already on, because the stain glass shattered leaving her to free fall once again. After what seemed like an eternity of this she reached another stain glass with a different girl on it. She noticed the sword in her hand and swung once for good measure._

_Sora heard a noise behind her, and looked to see a dark creature with antennas that were crooked. Tightening her grip on the sword, she lunged with all her might at it and slashed. It receded then jumped into the air to hit her. Sora ran behind the creature and cut it two more times, making it disappear._

_'Behind you!'_

_She locked her gaze onto the one behind her and noticed in annoyance as a few more popped up behind that one. Sora began slashing like crazy, taking each one down one by one until there was only one. The one left began to melt, until darkness began to seep across the whole picture._

_She struggled but it was no use, for she only was sucked in. Sora came to on another stain glass portrait, this time with a picture of a girl with a rose. She ran forward and heard more of the dark creatures appear near her, prompting her to grab her sword._

_They were all defeated quite easily for Sora had gotten used to the devilish things. A bright light shone leading the way to a stain glass that seemed farther up, if the steps leading to it were any indication. Curiosity of what it could be lead the brunette, and as she looked back the steps too began to dissipate._

_This stain glass was mostly golden, from the dress of the girl in it. Sora felt nervous, for there was no telling what she would find up here. She once again ran into the light and looked up, taking slow measure steps._

_'The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.'_

_Sora slowly turned behind her, and noticed the irregular shadow that came form her body. It began to rise from the floor, Making Sora inch backwards. _

_'But don't be afraid.'_

_She kept moving away from the thing, for it soon grew bigger than what her shadow was. The head moved in resemblance to snakes almost, and it was MUCH larger than the other creatures. _

_'And Don't forget...'_

_At this point Sora freaked out, running and hoping she would reach another stain glass. Hope was soon crushed by how she almost fell into the dark abyss. She swallowed her indecision and grabbed the handle of her sword tightly._

_The large creature formed a ball of energy, and Sora was forced to jump out of the way before it crushed her. From where the darkness was came the smaller ones. Sora ignored them and began attacking the large one, moving only when he pulled his hand up._

_This cycle repeated a couple times, her attacking the hand she could reach and maybe the head if she ran along the arm. Eventually the thing hunched over, and her sword disappeared like the weapons before. The thing began feeding darkness into the stain glass like the one before, sending Sora to land on her butt._

_The thing moved in closer, and the voice from earlier began speaking to her._

_'-But don't be afraid.'_

_Tendrils of darkness were enveloping her legs, and the creature moved closer than before. Sora at this point was in a state of complete fear._

_'You hold the mightiest weapon of all.'_

_Sora was crawling away from the giant thing until she noticed the tendrils begin to cover her arm,and evenyually she couldn't move at all. Darkness covered eyes and face._

_'You are the one who will open the door.'_

_

* * *

  
_

Sunlight from a clear blue sky penetrated Sora's lids, waking her from her nap. Blinking slowly she sat up to see the ocean, and noticed she was on the beach. Yawning loudly Sora noticed a red haired girl above.

"Whoa!"

She sat up quickly, and turned to look at her. The Girl laughed lightly, and Sora grinned.

"Gimme a break, Kairi."

"Sora you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."

Sora was kneeling at this point and gave Kairi a serious but frazzled look. "No! This huge, black THING swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't-- Ow!"

Sora reached for what seemed to be a knot on her head from Kairi's knock. She gave the girl an fake evil glare which was only returned with a smile.

"Are you still dreaming?"

"It wasn't a dream! Or was it? I don't know. What was that place? So bizarre..."

"Yeah sure."

She turned to see Kairi walk towards the incoming waves. Sora's clothes consisted of a black and white short-sleeved hoodie, with white and dark blue tank-tops that reached her hips. With that accompanied red shorts that reached mid-thigh with chains, and yellow tennis shoes. Complimented with shoulder-length ponytails.

There was a mutual silence between the two until another voice invaded their ears. "Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me?-"

Sora felt her eyes soften from their previous agitation when she stared at the silver haired boy. "-I guess I'm the only one working on the raft."

Riku threw the log at Sora who caught only from trained instincts. Unfortunately that didn't mean she didn't end up back on her back.

Riku continued on to Kairi until he was a mere couple feet away, and put his hands on his hips. "And you're just as lazy as she is!"

"So you noticed!. Okay we'll finish it together. I'll race you!"

"Huh?"

"What, are you kidding?"

"Ready, go!"

There was a split second of no movement until both Sora and Riku took off running, Kairi trailing behind them. Sora snuck a glance a Riku and he did the same. Both gave the other a grin as they ran faster and faster, Kairi laughing as she attempted to keep up.

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Sora walked around afterwards for a little bit, until she found where Kairi had situated herself. "So, I guess I've gotta get the rest of the supplies huh?

"Yup. Here's what you need to go find: two logs, one cloth, and one rope. Make sure to bring everything back here."

Feeling pretty good after their race, Sora stretched then set off to find their supplies. If she could remember where to find any of them anyway, not like stuff like that was ever ingrained in he brain. First Sora headed to where Riku threw the log at her on the beach, then checked around for another.

Luck obviously wasn't on her side today, for the next log she found was again near Riku. Maybe he was a tree hugger gone extreme. Just as she was going to slowly back off with her quarry a voice interrupted her movement

"Hey Sora, how about a quick round? Grab your sword."

There could never be anything _good _out of trying to duel Riku. Sora's like to think she was the better swordsman but, Riku honestly was the better one. This question had two questions beneath: Would you like a bruise or a reason to be dogged on. Too bad her pride wins this battle.

"Okay, you're on!"

She quickly grabbed a wooden sword from the nearby shed, and readied herself to face Riku. Full frontal was the same thing as suicide, and she never saw his back long enough before he beat the stuffing out of her. Blue eyes scanned over the circular mini-island with coconut trees.

Riku noticed her pondering and pulled his sword out as he jumped down from the tree. "This one decides champion!"

With speed that was great for someone who trained with wooden swords Riku came at Sora with a quick swipe, her dodge rolling at the last averting the force. Making sure her sword was held in a tight grasp, Sora moved in, most of her attacks being blocked.

"C'mon Sora!"

She mentally fumed and parried Riku's last lunge, silently laughing as she managed to get a few hits in. Riku narrowed his eyes slightly, unleashed a strong swing that caught Sora on the side. This knocked her off balance for a moment, but she recovered in enough time to avoid Riku once again.

"Is that the best you can do?"

He smirked when she began to glare at him. He couldn't resist taunting her, especially when she tried to look imposing. Seeing her release her guard slightly Riku moved in for the kill and whacked her on the stomach, sending the brunette on her back.

Sora groaned as she felt her stomach. She _definitely_ would be feeling that one in the morning, Riku _never _easy. One day she would make sure he enjoyed his own slew of bruises. Just no this one. Moving to sit up, Sora sighed as the wooden swords tip was held at her throat.

"Aw man, now the score's 0 to 1!"

"If you weren't such a tomboy I wouldn't be forced to answer your challenge."

Sora grinned at this, and moved the sword aside as she stood. "Just wait Riku, I'm gonna beat you good someday!"

She could hear him laughing lightly as she walked off, face tinged pink. The nerve of him to tell her to be more girly-ish. Best part about not being girly was the whole not having to wear a skirt or dress. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but she spent her childhood as a legendary super swordsman... Kinda.

Eventually looking around for all their items led her to a broken-off boat that smashed on the beach of the island some years back. Here she found Tidus practicing his repetitions, and her rope. Nabbing it and throwing it on her waist, she approached Tidus.

"Heya!"

"Hey Sora, You feeling lucky today?"

Sora shook her head and lifted her shirt to show Tidus her newly forming bruise. "Nah, just a present courtesy of Riku."

Tidus whistled then laughed, very amused by the mark that sat above her right hip-bone. "He did you in good today huh?"

She ignored this comment and ran the walked the distance of the beach, the day seeming rather bland. But again that could be her sulking. Riku was the only person in Destiny Islands who could annoy the crap out of her. Him and his stupid silver hair, and green eyes that were calculating....

This thought pattern made her stop,as she could see him still laying on the tree from this distance. Sora would admit it, she liked her best friend. And it was the most frustrating thing to know that he still had no idea! She'd eat a fish raw rather than tell him and risk their friendship.

Moving along quickly, Sora reached Kairi by staying along the beach.

"Hey Sora, thanks! Tired? want to call it a day?"

"Yeah, let's go home."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

It was sunset By the time they'd gotten all the supplies that they needed for their raft. Riku was standing, while Sora and Kairi were both perched on the tree. The weird silence between them was unsettling, so Sora looked to Riku.

"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?"

"Could be. We'll never know by staying here."

"But how far can a raft take us?"

Riku uncurled one of his arms and waved it slightly. "Who knows. If we have to, we'll think of something else."

It was here Kairi interjected. "So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?"

"Well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up one this one? And suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater-"

"-So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

Sora turned on her back, and sighed lightly. "I don't know."

"Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot, haven't you?"

"Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi thanks."

"You're welcome."

Sora slid off the tree as Kairi and Riku began to move, and noticed the distance between them all was farther than usual.

"Sora!"

Sora turned to see Riku throw a star-shaped fruit at her. She stared at it for a while, and looked at Riku in confusion.

"You wanted one, didn't you?"

"A Paopu fruit?"

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each others lives, no matter what."

At this point Riku had closed the distance between them, and gave her a famous Riku smile. One that was too hard to explain.

"C'mon, I know you want to try it."

_'WHAT! Why I oughta-'_

"What're you talking-"

She was cut off as he laughed cool sounding as ever. Chucking into the water, Sora ran to catch up with the silver haired boy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Much of the next day was spent the same. Kairi gave Sora a list of things they needed for the raft, and she went to go find it. The fact that _she _had to go out and find it though was slightly depressing. Kairi busied herself by making shells, and she beat Riku in a race.

It was the first time in a LONG time she'd beaten him at anything, so of course he was quite the sore loser about it. By winning she named the ship Excalibur, because it had a hardcore ring to it. The only weird part of the say, Sora mused, was the weird guy in the black cloak in the Secret pace.

He freaked her out for a second, because she didn't see anyone before her go in, nor did hear anyone come in after. Then just disappeared with a poof.

She was currently lying in her bed, when she noticed the stormy weather outside. "A storm? Oh no, the raft!"

Sora snuck out of her window, ignoring the calls of her mother who she could partially hear over the thundering sounds. Grabbing her boat, she rowed as fast as she could to the island, the larger than normal waves making it already difficult.

After 15 minutes of this she reached the island, and noticed a mass of dark energy. "What's that?"

She looked along the little pier and saw that two other boats were docked there too. Sora had no idea what was going on, but she was feeling anxiety take over.

"Riku's boat... And Kairi's!"

Creatures from her dream a couple days prior appeared, and Sora drew her wooden sword. She wasn't very sure how well it would guard her but hell if she were to go down without a decent fight. She avoided most of them, and noticed they dissipated along the path that led to the mini-island.

Jogging along as fast as she could, she spotted the familiar head of silver. Giving the mini-island a quick glance she noticed their red-headed friend was very much missing.

"Where's Kairi?! I thought she was with you."

Riku still stood with his back facing to her, and Sora began to feel trickles of an unknown emotion cross her mind.

"The door has opened."

"What?"

Riku cut his eyes to hers, and Sora felt like she'd been hit with a cinder block. Her tongue was heavy, and felt like cotton.

"The door has opened Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!"

Sora balled her fist in irritation. "What're you talking about? We gotta find Kairi-"

"Kairi's coming with us!"

Sora recoiled slightly, and blinked.

"Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

"Riku..."

Similar to another part of her dream Riku reached a hand out to Sora, darkness from below now swallowing him in it's embrace. She moved forward, and found the darkness was beginning to envelope her body too. Try as she wanted, Sora reached and reached for his hand, until darkness covered her eyes.

From the darkness appeared a brilliant light, that dispelled the darkness and showed her Riku was no longer with her. In her hand she gripped a weapon shaped like that of a key. Seeing as Riku was no longer there, she ran to the secret spot, dodging the dark creatures along the way.

Jogging along the path, Sora stopped short when she saw Kairi standing by the door. "Kairi!"

Kairi turned to face her slowly and as she uttered one word, darkness spewed from the wooden door; "Sora..."

The force knocked Kairi toward Sora, and as Sora prepared herself to get hit she was surprised when only air embraced her. Eventually she lost footing and was knocked out of the secret place. She landed on what seemed to be what was left of the island, for only wreckage was spinning around the sphere of dark energy.

"Whoa!"

Turning to look behind her, Sora's eyes widened fractionally as she noticed the _GRANDE _sized creature from her dream. Bringing the weird blade close and crouching, she began to watch the things every movement. If things went like in her dream, then she could attack the arms and head when it hunched over.

As soon as she moved to attack, it kneeled down and began shooting dark energy that she knew to avoid. Going to the inside of the arm Sora began hacking away until it stood back up, completely out of reach. It then summoned more energy, and she jumped as she saw a shock wave head her direction.

Sora began hitting the exposed arms, over and over again, until it stood once more. It seemed there were only a couple things the brute could do, and it always involved a dark sphere of energy centered around the arms or chest. She would climb the arms to the head but it seemed quicker to attack the body.

Dodge rolling out of the way when it summoned some of the smaller creatures, Sora quickly did away with the small fry. No need for them to get in her way. She kept repeating this process. Hacking away at anything she could make a good target of, then destroying any smaller ones lying about.

After a while of this the thing was sucked into the much larger than before sphere of darkness. Sora held on to the remains of a boat, only one hand keeping her from whatever fate awaited the dastardly beast. But it didn't last very long, for she too was sucked into the dark abyss...

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Donald and Goofy arrived in Traverse Town, only to see a peculiar happening. A star, just as King Mickey described, was blinking out.

"Look, a star's blinking out!"

The star shone brilliantly, before succumbing to darkness. Now there no longer was another world, and the two both knew what they had to do.

"C'mon, let's hurry.

Both of them walked of to find Leon, the man who seemed to be able to help them find this key-bearer. "Where's that key..."

"Hey ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon."

Pluto began sniffing in another direction, and Goofy gave it a quick thought. "Uh, Donald. Ya know, I betcha that..."

"Aw, what do you know you big palooka?"

"What do I know? Hmm... Come on, Pluto!"

Pluto was in the back alley, sniffing a scent that smelled rather interesting. He found what seemed to be a young girl, and gave he a big lick the cheek. This method effectively woke the dreary-eyed brunette from unconsciousness.

"What a dream..."

She began t snooze off again until Pluto pounced on her stomach.

"Whoa! This isn't a dream!"

Standing up slowly, Sora winced as some of her bones popped from her weird sleeping position. "Where am I? Oh, boy..."

She glanced around, and noticed she was in a deserted back alley. Bending over slightly, she leaned into the cute dog. "Do you know where we are?"

His ear popped up, and the dog darted off, leaving Sora rubbing her temples. This was just great, Riku disappeared in darkness and she had no idea what happened to him or Kairi. She still trying to discern what happened to her!

"What a night..."

* * *

Sesshomaru-lover93: Well I reviewed over the story as best I can so tell me if you like something, or feel free to suggest something. I'm all ears for anything unless it's something I clarify I won't do, so keep looking back every once in a while!


	2. Traverse Town

This Sesshomaru-Lover93 and all I have to say is that writing these chapters are fun, so I think updates would be pretty much every few days or at least once a week. That's one of my goals as writer to reader. I haven't decided any pairings yet, so feel free to suggest your favorites.

* * *

Sora moved from her spot in the alley, and saw the middle of the area. It was a large plaza with plenty of walking room, and a couple shops dotting the area. She would've talked to someone out there, but she somehow was compelled to enter the accessory shop.

"Welcome- Oh, it's just a kid."

"I'm not a kid. The name's Sora. Hey gramps, where are we?"

The blond man moved to put a hand on his hip. "I ain't no damn gramps, name is Cid. This here is Traverse Town."

Sora watched Cid's facial expressions very closely, to make sure he wasn't a crazy or something. He went from cool, to pretty mellow when she began talking about her and Riku's talk before the Island was swallowed. It really felt good to be able to tell someone now that she thought of it.

"I'm sorry for ya kid, but this here _definitely _ain't your Islands. If I see anything I'll tell ya."

Sora gave a smile of thanks, before leaving the shop from where she came. Seeing as there wasn't anything around in what she learned was the First district, Sora moved to the large door that she also found was the Second district.

As soon as she walked in she saw something most unsettling. The creatures that were on Destiny Islands were here too, and one of them took what seemed to be a heart. She fought them off and became agitated as more appeared. It seemed like she would have to fight here too.

Moving into a nearby hotel, Sora caught her breath by walking down the long hallway. For some reason she felt like she was missing something or someone by chance. She perked herself up by imagining it was Riku, and that he would understand her liking him. Yeaaaah, that was _never _going to happen!

Sora felt slightly down after this and moved the exit the door, seeing another door along the path. Two creatures appeared, and she hacked away until they were gone. Just as she entered, Donald and Goofy were exiting the hotel.

"Hmph. Where is he?"

"Leeeooon!"

Sora moved around in the factory, until she noticed more dark creatures pop up. Time to vent some serious frustration!

After a while of annihilating the things Sora felt much better. She also felt stronger for some reason, like the more she fought the greater her strength became. Exiting the other door, she found a wobbly ladder and a drop off. Deciding the drop off was the better route Sora eventually found a door with two Dalmatians.

Sora found her way into the Third district, and knew it would hold no clues there either. Searching was becoming the most boring thing she'd done in a while, even though she was looking for her friends. At this point she doubted Riku or Kairi were in Traverse Town.

She made a quick leave of the vacant house and made her way back to the First district. She fought the few creatures along the way and then headed back to the accessory shop. Talked to Cid about what she didn't find, and then left the shop.

"They'll come at you out of no where."

Sora's eyes narrowed, and she turned to face the voice. "Who are you?"

"And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to wild the Keyblade."

She kept her guard tight, and stared down what seemed to be an opponent. He was maybe a couple years older than she, and had a tough guy thing going for him with all the leather.

"But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, you have a problem?"

"Never mind. Now, let's see that Keyblade."

Sora out on her best 'cool' face, but felt it heat up when he moved to get closer. She held the Keyblade up as to guard her, but he kept moving closer and closer. Eventually she hit the wall of the item shop and the guy stopped less than a foot away.

"H-hey, I can do some damage with this!"

The guy rolled his eyes and backed off, giving Sora plenty of time to attempt an escape. Unfortunately for her the guy already knew she would do this, and grabbed her round the waist. At this point she began kicking and yelling."

"You pervert! Put me down!"

It was after a couple minutes of this the guy pressed something on her neck, and all Sora saw was black.

"Hehehe, nice going Leon. That was pretty funny."

Leon ignored this comment and set off with the chuckling dark-haired girl behind him.

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"C'mon Lazy bum. Wake up."

Sora moved up to a sitting position, and shook her already spinning head. It did nothing to make it better but it woke her up somewhat. Looking up she saw Kari's slightly concerned face.

"You okay?

"I guess..."

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade. But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade."

Sora rubbed her temples, and sat with her back flat against the headboard of the bed. "It's good that you're okay Kairi."

"Kairi? Who're you talking about? I'm the great ninja Yuffie."

"Huh?"

A white light flashed in Sora's head, and she saw the countenance of a different girl with short dark hair. "I think you might've overdone it Squall.

"That's Leon."

Sora disregarded the events from earlier and turned her head to see Leon. Noticing her weapon by the door, she mouthed the words from earlier.

"The Keyblade."

"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to hake off those creatures. It turns out that was how they were tracking you."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them. But it wont work for long. Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one."

Leon picked up the Keyblade watched it flash out of sight from his hand, to Sora's hands. He moved closer till he was standing a few feet away.

"Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

She gave him her meanest look. "Why don't you start making some sense? What's going on here?"

--

An Auburn haired girl prepared herself to talk to the two men of The King. "Okay, so you know there are many other worlds out there besides your castle and this town, right?"

"Yeah."

"But they're supposed to be a secret."

She nodded. "They've been a secret because they've never been connected. Until now. When the Heartless came, everything changed."

--

Sora made a confused face. "The Heartless?"

"The ones who attacked you, you remember?"

"Those without Hearts", Leon filled in.

"The darkness in people's hearts-- that's what attracts them."

"And there is darkness within every heart.'

Yuffie turned her head to face Sora. "Hey, have you ever heard of someone named Ansem?"

--

"Ansem?"

"He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report."

Goofy choose this moment to interrupt. "Gawrsh, uh, can we see it?"

"It's pages are scattered everywhere."

Donald was impatiently tapping his foot. "Scattered?"

"To many worlds."

A light clicked on in Goofy's head. "Oh, then maybe the king went to find 'em."

"Yes, those were my thoughts exactly."

"We gotta find him quick!"

"Wait! First, we need that 'key'!"

"That's right. The Keyblade."

--

"So... This is the key?"

"Exactly!"

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade. That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what."

Sora shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I didn't ask for this."

"The Keyblade chooses it's master. And it chose you."

"So, tough luck."

She looked to Leon. "How did all this happen? I remember being in my room..."

She suddenly stood up as she remembered everything of her last moments on Destiny Islands. "Wait a minute. What happened to my home? My Island? Riku! Kairi..."

"You know what? I really don't know."

After this Sora moved around the room, and opened a chest to find an elixir. She wasn't sure what she would do, or where she could go but sticking around here was all she could do. She talked to Leon, for a moment.

"Yuffie we should join Aerith and the others. They should be here by now."

"Leon!"

A Heartless appeared in the room, and Leon hiked his sword up. "Yuffie, go!"

She ran through the door so fast it slammed whatever was behind it flat. Sora grasped the Keyblade behind Leon, and laughed silently when he knocked the sucker out of the window. Taking the stairs down , she met back up with Leon.

"Don't bother with the small fry. Find the Leader."

"Got it. Let's go!"

He ran one direction, and she ran the other. Even though Leon told her not to bother with the, it was still pretty fun to beat the stuffing out of the little Heartless. But after a while of this she got bored and stopped by the accessory shop once to say hey to Cid. Afterwards she went to the item shop and bought what she thought she might need.

Running to the Third district was easy, because she defeated most of the Heartless in her path. Regardless of the fact that they wanted to steal her heart, they were oh so fun to make dust out of. It was eerily silent once she entered, and Sora knew it was here she would face the big boss.

As she moved towards the center of the ground floor, a loud noise made her look up. Donald and Goof were already there when she arrived. But when they tried to fight off a heartless, it knocked them off of their ledge.

_'Oh crap!'_

She ran to get out of the way, but it was too late. The two thuds on her back were probably going to make an even larger bruise than the one she currently had on her stomach. Her eyes were dizzy for a couple moments until they both spoke.

"The Key!"

She looked at both of them and moved to get up, the both of them scrambling up once the ground began vibrating. Giant blocks rose to block off the exits to the district, and all three prepared themselves for battle. Heartless appeared on top and jumped down, all heading for the group.

Sora began hacking and slashing away at the heartless, her cuts and scrapes being healed by the little Duck in blue every so often. It was almost ironic, because all of them fought with the weapons from her dream with the XL-Heartless.

The one with the shield made really good blocks, which allowed her the time to take them out for good. Eventually all of them were gone, and Sora was hoping that the Heartless from before were all that they were going to have to deal with.

This hope was crushed when giant pieces of armor appeared, and the giant Heartless began it's rampage. The attacks were strong as far as force, and would make her run for an empty corner when it would spin. She already had one nasty gash on her side from it.

She was glad the two came crashing down on her, because it would seem that they were all for helping her out.

With this in mind, Sora cheered mentally when she began taking the limbs out, one-by-one. First to go where the legs, and finally the arms until the giant Armor only had a head and body. She and Goofy teamed up to take out the body, and she was relieved to see it disappear in light.

She turned to the two figures. "So, you were looking for me?"

"Uh huh."

Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith all moved into view. "They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade."

"Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

Sora looked at her shoes. "I wonder if I can find Riku and Kairi..."

"Of course."

Goofy leaned down to Donald, and whispered. "Are you sure?"

"Who knows? But we need her to come with us to find the King."

Leon unfolded his arms, and stepped closer to the three. "Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."

"Yeah, I guess."

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No sad face. Okay?", said Donald.

Goofy piped in, "Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!"

"This boat runs on happy faces."

"Happy?"

Everyone watched Sora, her face concealed from loose hair falling to frame her head. She lifted and said cheese, her eyes looking away and a goofy smile firmly planted. Looking at Donald and Goofy, they didn't seem amused, until both started honking laughing.

She gave a normal grin when they did this, making her feel a lot less down than she did before.

"That's one funny face!"

"Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys."

"Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy."

"I'm Sora."

All of them stuck their hands in a circle. "All for one, one for all."

--

????

Some World farther off in a dark room was a group of plotting villains. All of their faces were concealed, and they all watched the picture of the young brunette with Donald and Goofy.

"That little squirt took down that Heartless! Who'd have thought it?"

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not her own."

"Why don't we turn him into a Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough."

"And that brat's friends are the Kin's lackeys. Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them."

"You're no prize yourself."

"Shut up!"

"Enough. The Keyblade has chosen her. Will it be her who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him. Either way, she could be quite useful..."

--

Sora stood facing Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie. They all were there to say farewell for now. "Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread."

"Check out the shops here. They've got some pretty neat stuff."

"This is from all of us."

Aerith handed Sora 100 munny, that of which the younger one pocketed.

"Spend as you see fit."

"Good luck!"

"I hope you find your friends."

"Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up."

Now the adventure would begin...

* * *


	3. Through the Jungle to Merlin's

This again is Sesshomaru-Lover93 here! Not much to say about any changes or something of the sort. Though there are some worlds I will choose to exclude because I didn't even like going through the game to beat em' because it was pointless or boring. Wonderland anyone? Probably the most annoying part of the game, besides fighting Riku in Hallow Bastion and fighting Ansem like six times at the end of the game.... So I probably will skip those bits to preserve my sanity. Thanks and enjoy!

* * *

One thing Sora never expected while on this journey was boredom. So far she'd been catapulted from her home, involved in a struggle that could change all worlds out there for the better or worse, and confused. She'd only had sword skills from her time on her Island, and they weren't much use here in space.

The first world they encountered was Wonderland. It was a puzzling world with everything being inverted or changed from what normal would be. Plus the fact she almost got beheaded by giant cards didn't help either. So here they all were in the Gummi ship searching for another world.

"Anything yet?"

"No!" Donald replied in annoyance.

Sora sighed and twirled a loose chocolate lock of around her finger. Donald and Goofy handled the ship as far as maintenance and steering, and it wasn't like she would learn anything yet. So she'd resided to annoying Donald and staring at the stars.

_'I wonder what Riku and Kairi are doing...'_

Heartless ships began to come out of everywhere, sounding a warning alarm to all of those in the rocket. Sora manned her seat and clipped the seatbelt on.

"Looks to me like we've found a trail."

She looked through the scope so all the ships were magnified and began locking all of them in, sadly entertained by the slight explosions they made. She really couldn't hear them, but it was regardless still pretty fun.

Goofy sat in his chair, watching as most of the approaching ships were taken down by the young girl. Donald didn't trust him to do much of anything but look out for new worlds, so he had plenty of time for a nap...

"Goofy? You big palooka, wake up!"

Donald chucked a commonly found Gummi piece at his head, relishing in the 'thunk' it made. Goofy drowsily looked at his monitor and gave a lazy smile.

"Gawrsh, I guess we got ourselves a new location. Weird, didn't see a moment ago..."

Sora gave a light laugh about this until a grumpy look from Donald made sent her back to shooting. Personally she would like to steer the sheep, but there was no way Donald would even let her _near _the area without having a spaz-attack.

After a while of this they reached a world that looked to be mostly Jungle and vegetation. She'd lived on a tiny world with Islands, but this place looked like something out of a look in Donald's eye had a lot to be desired, but Sora and Goofy weren't bothered much.

"Hey, Donald, maybe King Mickey's down there."

"In a backwater place like that? No way! Let's move on."

"Hold on. Riku and Kairi might be down there. Let's just check it out.

Donald shook his head furiously. "Forget it! We're on a very important mission!"

"Just land!"

"No!"

Sora inched closer to Donald, both of their voices drowning out any sounds made. "Come on!"

"Aw, phooey!"

She jumped at the steering controls, effectively knocking the duck on his butt. He too grabbed at the controls, and soon they were rocking the ship back and forth unsteadily. "We're landing!"

Donald yelled in protest as the ships rocking became even more apparent and soon they began rocketing towards the green world. All of them began yelling loudly as they were thrown from the ship into different parts of the brush.

Sora fell through the roof of a large wooden house to hit her back on the hard, wooden floor. She winced and untied her hair to lightly massage a new bump she was sure was going to hurt later. "Oww... my head..."

Looking around her, Sora noticed she seemed to be the only person who landed here. Not a great start for heading into a new world. "Donald? Goofy?"

A sudden noise made the brunette snap her head to the right, just in time to see a vicious-looking leopard leap from a balcony. Noticing before it clawed her head off gave Sora enough time to Move out the way and get away with a light graze on her arm.

"Damn!"

The sudden movement saved her life at that moment but only served to knock her back on her butt. Hair was caught in her mouth and strewn across her face, and she bounced back onto her feet. She held her Keyblade at ready, and moved to attack just as the creature got ready to pounce.

She dodge-rolled around it and managed to get in a couple hits before the giant cat began jumping from place to place. With this in mind, Sora would avoid the attacks made against her and put in some of her own before it moved.

After a while of this the thing was deadly still. Or at least Sora though it was, so she crept to the body slowly. She saw in a split second it moved, and held up the Keyblade until a young man came to her rescue, clad in nothing but a brown loin cloth.

He knocked the leopard back, and it jumped out a nearby door to escape. He turned to her and she gave a thankful grin.

After what seemed like twenty minutes Sora found the man leading her into a camp of sorts. The items looked like exploring equipment one would use when alone in a Jungle like this. Entering a nearby tent, she found a woman whom seemed startled to see her.

"Why, hello there! My name is Jane, and you are?"

"Sora."

"Nice to meet you Sora. I understand you're not related to Tarzan, correct?"

Sora shook her head absently. "No, I crash landed here."

"Oh heavens, have you come to see the gorillas too?"

A large man carrying a rifle entered the tent. "A circus of clowns in here are no use for hunting Gorillas."

Donald and goofy trailed in after the brute, sending Sora to rush over. "You're okay!!" exclaimed Sora and Donald. Until both remembered blaming the other for crashing in the Jungle, then they separated quickly as if burned.

"By the way Clayton, we are here to _study _the gorillas, not hunt them!"

Clayton waved Jane off with a wave and left the ten once more. She looked at the odd threesome and gave a light smile.

"So you are looking for your friends?"

Sora nodded the affirmative. "Well, you can always search with Tarzan. Maybe you will find something then."

Tarzan grabbed his weapon and left the tent, this time Donald, Goofy, and Sora following outside. It was pretty nice, Sora noted, that in the world they were in now they had yet to encounter Heartless. Perhaps she was guessing to early but maybe this world didn't need them slaying the things.

After walking for a bit, they reached a lagoon filled with hippos. A vine lay to her left, but Sora chose to jump across tiny pieces of land to stand on one. As it rose from deeper water to shake her off she moved to the next, until she reached a tall tree that looked firm for climbing. By now Tarzan caught up while Goofy and Donald still were at the last hippo.

Sora and Tarzan began the descent up, Goofy and Donald both on the tree a little farther down. From what she could see she was probably twenty feet above ground, something that normally would bother most but not someone who'd grown up climbing coconut trees.

As she continued up she began noticing how the tree tops came in closer together to form multiple landing points. Moving to one, Sora found her breath caught in her throat as she noticed the Gorillas staring at all of them as they came up.

Tarzan came up last and began talking to a super large gorilla who looked none too pleased to be seeing them at that very moment. Sora bit her lip as the large one moved away, and some others followed. She hoped she didn't get Tarzan in trouble for bringing them here.

--

A lone gorilla was in the Tree house, playing with a globe. What a perfect chance for Clayton to finally hunt some gorillas in the blasted jungle. He aimed his gun silently, calculating the right moment for a precise termination of the mongrel.

His finger curled around the trigger and his heart kept steady rhythm until Donald came running and surprised him, throwing off his perfect shot. He glared at duck then panicked slightly as he noticed his quarry escape with the larger gorilla.

"What's the big idea!"

Tarzan moved passed Clayton and began spouting off gibberish. He seemed to use a pleading tone with the gorilla, which confirmed her suspicions from not too earlier. The huge gorilla ignored Tarzan and left, while the other followed slowly after the leader.

Tarzan turned to Clayton, eyes full of fury. Clayton began sweating profusely, and cleared his throat. "You don't understand. I was only trying to... Ah, a snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorillas life."

Tarzan shook hid head in what seemed disgust, and the four of them left to head back to the camp.

--

" How could you do such a thing!"

"Now miss Porter, as I told you I was not aiming at the gorilla. "

"You are not to go near he gorillas again!"

"All because of one mishap, come on now..."

He was silent as everyone in the ten faced him with a hardened stare. Even the brat troupe were in for this one against him. He chuckled and left the ten, his eyes going from relaxed to crazy with rage at their insolence.

Sora looked at everyone in the room. Donald and Goofy felt the same way about the incident that she felt; it was no accident. Tarzan and Jane seemed to hold looks of exhaustion from all they'd encountered since Sora arrived here a couple of hours ago.

A shot resounded outside, making everyone turn their heads to the exit flap. Sora stuck her head out, only to see a gorilla surrounded by monkey Heartless. She summoned the Keyblade and began attacking one, only surprised when she slipped on a banana and fell.

A painful cliché it sadly was, for it hurt like hell. She moved back up quickly and delivered a round house swing to the one nearest to her. Goofy and Donald were helping along with Tarzan, and with the four of them it wasn't very difficult to eradicate them all.

--

The group was lead to the cliff by the Heartless, and weren't too surprised to see many of the gorillas herded in. Just as Clayton began aiming to take shot once more, Sora shouted "Don't!"

The gorillas took this time to quickly scurry off ,and Clayton was none too pleased. He seemed as if he were going to shoot one of them, until he stood next to the large wall behind him. Some sort of force broke the entire thing, until Clayton sat on something invisible.

Tarzan moved in to attack him, but was easily flung off by whatever it was that broke the wall. Any ways out were sealed, and Sora moved in to attack somewhere below Clayton. It didn't help at all that she could _barely _see what she was hitting but her progress told her she was doing something right.

Suddenly she too was flung a couple meters away, where Clayton jumped off the thing and began aiming at them. She rolled out of the way in time to miss one meant for her head and continue attacking the invisible monster until it became visible.

"A giant lizard?"

Goofy moved just in time to block another bullet from Clayton with his shield. Giving Sora a quick thumbs up him, Donald, Tarzan began attacking the Lizard. This left Clayton wide open for her. She climbed the nearest ledge and swung at the hunter, visibly causing damage as he fell off.

He got up and began shooting again, and Sora repeated the process until she was sure he had enough bruises. At the same time the lizard that everyone else had been fighting seemed much closer to Clayton now, and everyone moved back as it swayed.

Clayton stood and held his side in pain with his shotgun in the other hand. He stumbled back slightly and aimed at the group, his mind not even very focused at the very moment. The lizard tumbled forward, and Clayton yelled in terror as the thing crushed him to death.

The Lizard Heartless began to disappear, and Sora noticed every time they fought stronger heartless like the one before a heart was released. With the smaller ones it hardly noticeable because more appeared in the others place.

By now all of the gorillas had returned, the threat of heartless over. Even the really big one returned and came to their group. He grabbed one of Sora's shoulders, and threw her onto a higher ledge that was hard to reach. Goofy and Donald followed after, whilst Tarzan climbed.

Tarzan turned to watch the gorilla, and the gorilla simply stared back at him. It was only a little weird because it seemed they were able to say much in such an awkward silence. All of the gorillas began leaving once the leader hunkered out of there and Sora was thankful. She fell face first.

"So, are we headed to those falls?"

Tarzan nodded and began moving toward the large, rushing waterfalls. It was pretty difficult when you had to climb rocks and vines that were slightly wet or thoroughly soaked. It took a while, and every so often she would slip and fall, but once they reached the very top there was a cave.

Entering the cave there was the sound of pulsing energy, and a luminous blue light. Jane and the young gorilla from earlier entered, and Sora knitted her brows in confusion.

"This is your home? But that means..."

Tarzan cut her off and put a hand to his ears. In the silence, there was the thundering but soft sound of the waterfalls.

"Huh?"

"The waterfalls... They're echoing all the way here."

Tarzan mumbled the same thing he'd been saying since Sora met him, and pointed to the light. "Friends there. See friends."

It was silent for a moment until Jane clasped her hands together. "Oh, now I've got it. *&&X% means heart. Friends in our hearts."

"Heart."

"Oh, so that's what it meant."

Sora let her head hang somberly, mostly disappointed about how things turned out as far as Riku and Kairi. No sign of them still, and not even a clue!

"Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

Sora turned to face Donald who stood at her right. "I'm sorry about what I said."

"I'm sorry too."

"Yeah. All for one, huh?"

Sora moved to the pulsing light, and felt energy blossom from her arm which held the Keyblade. Closer up it was more obvious the light was the work of butterflies. A key hole appeared from where they were, and bright light sallied forth from the Keyblade to seal it. Another Gummi popped out.

"A Gummi!"

"But it's sure not the king's."

The gorilla near Donald moved closer and rubbed her head on him. Jane laughed lightly and smiled. "It look like someone's got a new admirer."

Donald moved away, and shook his head violently. "No, no, no, no! Daisy would kill me!"

Everyone laughed at this, and everything was finished there in the Deep Jungle.

-------------------------------------------------------

Villainous figures stood around the table, pondering what'd transpired with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "What drew the Heartless to that world?"

"The hunter lured them there. It was his lust for power that was the bait. But it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good."

Another figured laughed. "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"

One figure moved from the shadows, revealing him as Jafar. "A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless. But the girl is a problem. She found one of the Keyholes."

"Fear not, it will take ages for her to find the rest. Besides, she remains blissfully unaware of our other plan."

"Yes. The princesses."

"They are falling into our hands, one by one. Speaking of which..."

-------------------------------------------------------

Sora gave a sigh of relief when they returned to Traverse Town. It seemed to be the only place they could go to restock on items and upgrade equipment. And it was probably the only place where she could be as lazy as she wanted, which was her nature.

Sadly she was on an errand for Cid, which meant Goofy and Donald high tailed it to the empty house in the third district while she went to Merlin's to return an old book. It was only troublesome because the path there consisted of moving rocks and water. Not exactly the best combo.

She jumped the last one and landed on the tiny island, and entered the small house with a hello. Merlin walked over and smiled at what she had in her hands.

"Ah, I see Cid did a pretty good job. Feel free to take a look through the book, it's magical. It isn't my book, just happened in my book one day-"

"Uh, your welcome Merlin. I'll just be headed out, see ya!"

She quickly jazzed herself out of the room to avoid his babbling. Nice old man, but boy could he _talk._ She readied herself and skipped out onto the first moving stone back, only to fall into the cold water. Rearing her head back up, Sora spat out whatever got in her mouth and swam back to the shore.

At this point she wasn't feeling too hot, and she was freaking dripping all over the place. Sora shook violently and untied her hair to let her shoulder length locks fall and frame her face. She dried what ever else she could but she'd pretty much soaked an ocean in her clothes.

Exiting the sliding door with a slow stride, she was surprised when two Heartless appeared out of nowhere directly in front of her. She summoned her Keyblade but blinked in surprise as they were taken out by someone else. Eyes almost watered in tears to who it was.

"There you are. What's going on?"

"Riku!"

She ran up and grabbed his cheeks, laughing lightly as she knew they were real. Her cheeks heated up, and she hoped she didn't look like a beet right then.

"Hey, hey, cut it out."

Sora absentmindedly ringed her clothes for the fifth time, and Riku gave her an amused glance.

"... I fell in a lake..."

With this Riku killed the moment by laughing at his childhood friend. It was too good, her falling into something. That one had obviously made his day because even a few minutes later after he _stopped _his eyes seemed to twinkle.

"This isn't a dream is it?"

Riku ran a hand through his locks. "I hope not. It took forever to find you."

Sora though on this for a moment, and then her mind clicked. "Wait a second. Where's Kairi?"

"Isn't she with you?"

Sora shook her head, not too surprised when fat droplets of water went the same direction. She felt a little bad now for thinking only of Riku in that moment.

"Well don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the Island, too. We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this--"

Riku turned his back to her and walked took a couple of steps forward as he said this. Sora noticed another Heartless pop up and cut it clean in half, grinning once Riku turned to see what the noise was.

He raised a single brow, once again surprised to see his friend do something else weird today. She had the Keyblade at her side and couldn't resist a taunting but dazzling smile. "Leave it to who?"

"Sora, what did you-"

"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with some help from the guys I travel with."

"Who are they?"

She knew Riku since practically day one, and it looked what was supposed to be a heartfelt reunion was turning ugly. So she chose to ignore his last comment.

"We've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you."

"Really? Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed."

She shuffled her feet, alert when the Keyblade wasn't in her hand. She did a 360 before turning back to Riku who now held her weapon.

"This is a Keyblade?"

She fumed as he held it around in his hand. She moved to grab it, but was easily defeated by Riku who still had it held just out of reach. Pulling this as a last resort, Sora jumped on Riku's back which knocked them both to the ground.

Both were laying on their backs, Sora huffing but cheering victory in her head as the Keyblade was now in her hand father from Riku. Riku sat up and stared at her eyes intently. Sora's heartbeat sped up, and she felt like running for some reason.

"Boo."

Sora sat up suddenly, surprised she didn't hit his head. That's when she noticed that wouldn't be a problem for the silver-haired boy was gone again. Inhaling a full breath, Sora stood and walked up the ramp to the small house which now had lights.

_'Please let there be no red face, even though I know I'm still a little wet!'_

--

Outside the lit house stood two figures. Everyone was talking to someone or another, and it was a happy scene for those who looked from the outside as a passerby. Riku's gaze was locked on Sora, and he felt slight annoyance and anger.

"You see? It's just as I told you. While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, she quite simply replaced you with some new companions. Evidently, now she values them far more than she does you. I told you you're better off without that wretched girl. Now think no more of her, and come with me. I will help you find what you're searching for.

* * *

This chapter I'm surprised didn't take long to write, it was really the last part because I knew I wanted a different kind of meeting than the game. Next chapter I'm thinking will cover Olympus coliseum


	4. Cloudy day

Sesshomaru-Lover93: And so we are a chapter farther than before. I know that with the last two chapters I've had one world per chapter, but I think for some of the worlds that don't hold much meaning I'll skip parts and go straight to the nub of it. Other than that, happy reading

* * *

Sora stared at the ceiling of one of the three rooms on the Gummi ship. She was feeling down after the encounter with Riku, because she _knew _something was up. He'd acted weird that day on the Island, and he was really off in the Third District.

After he disappeared she joined the others in the vacant house and Cid explained the use of the Gummi they found in Deep Jungle. Even though she was absorbed in what everyone was saying, Sora was still rather disheartened by Riku's attitude.

He was up to something, and didn't want her help, which did nothing for her worries. And then there was the matter of Kairi laying heavily on her mind. The last time she saw the girl was in the secret place, and even then she disappeared like Riku.

_'I'm so tired; maybe a little nap won't hurt...'_

A loud crash resounded in the room, sending Sora flying up from her laying position on the bed. Donald stood at the door with a pot and large spoon, looking annoyed as ever.

"What are you doing?! Yeesh, can I get some sleep around here?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes!"

Sora stood and smoothed down her clothes and slipped on her shoes, giving Donald a questioning glance. "What's going on?"

"Just come outside you slowpoke."

With that said the duck trotted out of the room, barely missing getting hit by a pillow. Sora pulled her loose hair into two pony-tails and made her way to the cockpit, and down the ramp attached. Her eyes widened in amazement when she caught up to the pair.

They all stood outside a large Coliseum made of marble and other large stones. When they entered the large doors it was even more amazing, for everything was large and majestic. There were even two gold statues of soldiers with armor and swords, posed over doors that lead further in.

Sora pushed the next set of doors open, surprised to see what looked like a half man... And half goat... He didn't seem to notice them, so she moved to talk to him.

"Um..."

"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games."

Sora turned to look at the pedestal he was talking about and frowned. Guessing by the size of the thing, the guy knew someone who _could _move that. Unfortunately for him she was sure that she wasn't that person at all.

She walked over to the thing and began pushing, knowing it wouldn't move but finding it slightly funny anyway. Goofy chuckled and Donald shook his head as if to say 'wow'. After a minute of this she knew it wasn't going anywhere on her time.

_'It weighs a ton!'_

She walked back over to the guy and folded her arms. "It's way too heavy."

"What? Too heavy? Since when have you been a little-"

He stopped his rant long enough to look in her direction. "-Girl... What're you doing here? This here's the world famous Coliseum-- Heroes only. And I got my hands full preparing for the games. Run along and play with some dolls."

Sora gave him an evil glare, feeling very much insulted. Even as a kid she never played with dolls. She was more of a wooden sword kind of gal.

"Look. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

"You got heroes standing right in front of you."

"Yup", Goofy exclaimed while putting his hands on Sora's shoulders. "She's a real hero chosen by the Keyblade."

"And we're heroes too."

The guy's eyebrows nearly shot into his horns, and he pointed at Sora. "Hero? That runt?"

He started laughing, and Sora held back the urge to show him up and close how much of a _runt _she was. So maybe she wasn't all muscular and beefy... And just a little shorter than average... People like that were weird!

"What's so funny? I've fought a bunch of monsters!"

He kept laughing while she defended herself and cleared his throat after a while. He began pushing the large pedestal too and said, "Hey, if you can't even move this... you can't call yourself... a hero!"

It was quite comical actually watching him attempt to push the thing. His little hooves were scraping away as he kept losing his footing and Sora simply crossed her arms, waiting patiently until he fell heaving. She grinned as he turned to face them again.

"Okay, so maybe it takes more than brawn. Well, well, let's see what you can do."

Phil as she learned, led them outside to another area where there were barrels all over the place. She dreaded the notion of having to destroy them all, but Phil added another twist; Sora was being tested on whether she could destroy them all in time.

It was going to be a long morning...

--

Later they returned to the room with the plaques and Phil motioned her over. "You know, you ain't bad kid.'

Sora grinned cheekily. "Heh, looks like I'm headed for the games."

"Afraid not."

The smile unfortunately was replaced by confusion. "Why not?!"

"Two words: You guys ain't heroes."

_'I wonder if it's evil to want to unleash heartless on the guy...'_

After a couple more attempts to change his mind, Sora gave up and grumbled on her way out. They were halfway across the open courtyard when a voice halted them in their tracks.

"Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?"

Donald put his hands on his sides. "Who are you?"

"Whoa, hold on there fuzz boy. Wait, let me guess. You want t enter the games, right?"

He appeared at Sora's side and grasped one shoulder, and brought his other hand down. "Well, then, hey, get a load of this."

Out of the other hand appeared the license Phil was so adamant about not giving. "A pass?"

"It's all yours. Good lick kid. I'm pulling for you, little shorty."

He walked off and she stared at the pass, her excitement almost too much to bear. She barged into the Lobby once more and showed Phil their Hero License.

"How did you get this?

"Can we enter the games now?"

He thought on it for a moment. "Well... I guess so. We start with the preliminaries!"

Sora quickly destroyed the group of Heartless within a couple minutes, not even breaking out in sweat. By now she pulled her hair into one ponytail that looked almost cheerleader-ish, which was how she was feeling.

Phil was pulling at his beard, and just as he was about to say something a guy walked out from the entrance/exit. He wore slightly baggy dark blue pants with boots and a cape. He didn't seem to have his weapon on him, but he regardless looked scary.

Sora's eyes were glued to him and as he slowly walked by his eyes caught hers and her face suddenly felt warm. His spiky blond hair looked rather soft against the cerulean depths, and until he disappeared from sight did she blink.

_'Tall, dark, and smoking hot! I love this place'_

--

It was maybe an hour later when they finally had a break. Sora hadn't broken out in sweat because the adrenaline in her system had lasted for the past forty minutes. It was fun to say the least, although she was still kinda hoping not to fight 'dark-but-hot-anyway-guy'.

She took a quick stroll around the entire arena out of boredom, and hunger. She would ask Phil for food but she didn't want to take a chance of him handing out grass. Oh what she wouldn't do for some food like a hamburger or something!

Donald and Goofy called her over, catching the attention of the onlookers from one of the few entrances there. Hades paced around until he felt she moved far enough.

"Now, don't blow it. Just take her out."

The blond glanced at the retreating figure of Sora and then Hades. "The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid? Sorry, but my contract says--"

"I know! You think I don't know? I wrote the contract! I know it says you're only required to kill Hercules in this tournament. But you gotta fight that girl to get to him. Come on. Hey it's like that old goat says. Rule 11: It's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it!"

Hades punched to show his point, and turned to face the mercenary. "I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?"

The blond stood and walked away from the death god, his thoughts obviously somewhere else. Hades watched him walk off, not miffed at all.

"Geez. Stiffer than the stiffs back home. Still, suckers like him are hard to come by."

Sora gave Phil a peace sign before heading back to the main arena. Heartless were released and she began stabbing away, dodge rolling when necessary. They weren't too hard since many of the Heartless were of the spell casting variety with no strength or defense.

The match was quickly over and Sora frowned when she saw Cloud enter the Arena from one of the main gates. Was it too much to ask not to fight him? The guy had a real mean looking sword that she knew could chop up an _elephant._

She motioned for goofy and Donald to come closer, until they stood maybe 15 feet away from tall, dark, and deadly. She kept her voice low and whispered, "I think I wanna try this one on my own."

"Are you sure Sora?"

"You idiot, he'd knock you out five seconds flat!"

Sora shushed Donald by giving him her improving death glare and folded her arms. "Promise not to ask to pilot for a week."

"Deal."

Both walked off to the sidelines where Phil was giving a questioning look. Ignoring this Sora strode over a couple feet and drew her Keyblade. "Ready when you are."

He charged at her with a force that if she hadn't flipped out the way, she'd be dealing with a nice gaping hole in her stomach. He charged again, and this time she ducked around his next swing to whack him in the back good. A frontal attack was like Russian roulette but fully loaded.

Cloud caught Sora by surprise by elbowing her in the gut which sent the brunette back a couple feet. Sora coughed lightly and ran back to the blond, catching his sword with the Keyblade. Cloud stared her in the eye and she stared right back, striking out with her foot to catch him in the knee.

He easily grabbed her smaller foot and used this advantage to catch her with a swift swipe on the side. Sora grimaced in pain and shook her foot free from Cloud's grasp. She gave the wound a quick check over and summarized it hurt like _hell_!

She managed to parry his next attack and unleash a combo before she receded again. He began using the 'quick-charge' technique again, and Sora easily avoided it by rolling out of the way and reversing her swing so it hit Cloud on the dull side.

It went like this for a while, Cloud attacking her and blocking her mostly, and she avoiding some of the nastier attacks and catching him in the middle of a swing. She managed to parry one last attack and caught him in the head, sending the blond down to his knees.

Donald, Goofy, and Phil were all cheering which only made her grin. She slowly walked over to stand a few feet away from Cloud. Just as she reached her hand out a _huge _paw came out of nowhere and crushed Cloud to the ground with a force she was sure knocked him out.

Her eyes widened and she noticed the guy who gave her the License behind the monstrous three headed dog.

"Oh, right, there was one other rule I forgot: Accidents happen."

The three heads all brought themselves down at once, and when Sora was sure that she was going to be doggie-chow another guy wearing what looked like a dress and cape held the thing at bay.

"Herc!"

"Phil, get them out of here!"

Sora glanced at Cloud once more before running like hell into the Lobby. As of that moment she only wished the guy in the dress good luck, because unless you pulled her with rope she really didn't plan on heading back there unless it got bad.

Phil once again was wheezing as they all tried to catch their breath. "Whew, that was close. That was Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld. Herc should be able to handle him. Then again, maybe not. This doesn't look good.

_'Why must we run into things that have death potential written all over?'_

_--_

It didn't turn out too bad, if them looking ragged and her nearly passing out from the side wound counted for anything. The arena now looked a little worse for wear and there wouldn't be any games for a little while, but at least everyone came out safe.

Cloud was certainly okay after allowed time to wake up. She got away pretty easy with a few scrapes on her legs and forearms, a small bruise near the belly button above the bandaged cut, and a small cut that wouldn't scar on her cheek.

In her opinion it didn't seem like she got away with anything except for managing not to get skewered by Cloud or Cerberus. Donald and goofy went ahead to get the ship running and ready while she used the supplies so she walked alone to the entrance of the Coliseum.

Cloud was waiting on the steps to the entrance and Sora stopped a few inches away. "Hey, are you alright?"

He looked up. "Yeah."

"So why did you go along with him ,anyway?"

"I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help."

_'Lucky person...'_

She watched as he stood and his solemn looking eyes gazed down at her. "I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness, and couldn't find the light."

Sora pondered this deeply, because she'd never felt the temptation of Darkness. His eyes looked somber, and she felt a rush of empathy for him. She stuck out her pinky, and Cloud looked at it in question.

"We vow to keep looking for the light on this pinky swear."

Cloud stuck his pinky out and intertwined it with hers. "No blood oath."

"Nah, I've lost enough blood for today."

Sora laughed lightly while Cloud stood in silence, which quickly made anything said not so funny. Clearing her throat she gazed at Cloud once more.

"You'll find it. I'm still searching too."

"For your light?"

She nodded. Cloud unhooked his pinky from Sora's and moved to her injured side. "Don't lose sight of it."

Sora walked back to the ship, happy even though she was going to need a couple of cure spells later to speed up the healing process.

_'I've gotta stop having guy-overload...'_

_

* * *

_

DarkYoruichi: I have no idea why but after I wrote the bit about all dark and deadly I burst out laughing. Probably just need to stop writing at night. Oh well, until next time.


	5. Pushing me away

DarkYoruichi: Hey everyone! Not too shabby if I do say so myself as far as updating. I know one of my stories took a 4 month hiatus since my muse was on vacation. Other than that, not much too say except this chapter will combine two worlds instead of one. Happy reading (btw disclaimer on first chapter =)

* * *

It was hot. Really, really, _really hot!_

Sora wiped sweat from her brow as she peeled her jacket from her back. Why of all places did they come in contact with a world with a freaking desert?! She was glad she decided not to wear pants, cause' they would have been ripped fifteen times over.

Here would be her version of how they got to this place; first they were kind of just driving around until they see a new world. She saw the brown and reckoned it was a desert, and told Donald so. He answered by laughing and landing anyway.

From there they came in contact with a flying carpet, a princess being sought after by Jafar who's in cohorts with Maleficent, and a guy named Aladdin who commanded a Genie. Yeesh, it sounded like something out of a fairy tale.

Sora re-focused her attention to their objective at the moment; Finding Princess Jasmine. The four of them touched back down in Agrabah, and there was no sign of her yet. Only difference was that some areas from earlier were blocked off.

That and there were certainly more Heartless popping up than earlier which only added to her irritation. Couldn't one world be full of happiness and bearable sunshine without a single Heartless in sight? Was it too much to ask for?

She was quickly disturbed from this musing by the tell-tale 'whooshing' sound of Heartless appearing. Sora parried the attack of the one closest to her and used 'Sonic blade' on another behind the former. Both were gone in seconds and she hesitated putting it away.

Donald, Goofy, and Sora moved up the building through an opening in the wall to reach the main street. It was empty, and at the same time there were many carts that suggested heavily at vendors taking refuge here.

Sora was surprised for a moment because never had a world been so... Quiet. There were faint sounds every now and then but most of them came from the group searching for the lost princess. She was still yet to be found.

They stopped by Aladdin's home to take a quick rest from Jasmine tracking, and summed up what they knew at the moment to Aladdin and Genie.

"So, Jafar is after Jasmine and this _'Keyhole_?"

"Keyhole, eh? I could swear I've heard about that somewhere..."

"Really? Where?"

Genie moved about the room, his body morphing into odds and ends as he paced. It was on the tip of his tongue...

"Now, where was it? It's been 200 years..."

Sora brushed away a few loose strands from her ponytails before interrupting their conversation. "Well, anyway we've got to stop Jafar before it's too late."

They left Aladdin's house with a hustle to their steps, calling out for the missing Princess and looking out for Jafar. Sora Looked around the bazaar and noticed that the Castle gates had yet to be checked, and hooted like an owl.

Aladdin was the first on the scene, soon to be followed by her two companions. "What's up Sora? Did you see anything?"

"No. I just thought we should look near the gates, since it's the only place we haven't checked."

Donald huffed loudly. "That would be too obvious, you big palooka!"

Sora shrugged and climbed to the top of a stand to get through an archway, pausing when she heard voices. She came back through and motioned for the others to climb up and join her, and went back to hear the conversation;

"Jafar, you'll never get away with this! I'll have your head!"

"So sorry princess. It just happens that I need of your... Assistance. Now-"

Aladdin rushed past Sora to jump down from the ten-foot ledge, Sora slapping a hand to her forehead. Just when it was getting good too. Donald and Goofy were already down with Aladdin, leaving Sora to jump alone.

Jafar's eyes turned to annoyance as the buggers crept in; "Setting your sights a little high, aren't you, boy? Back to your hole street rat. I will not allow you to trouble the princess any more."

Aladdin took a bold step forward. "_Jasmine_!"

Jasmine's eyes fell to her feet as Jafar moved to guard her from sight. "I'm so sorry, Aladdin."

Sora noticed Aladdin reach behind his back and grasp the lamp from a hidden pocket. He began rubbing it and murmured under his breath as not to catch Jafar's attention. She stared pointedly as genie grabbed Jasmine from Jafar, who was not bothered at all.

"One wish left, you're making this easy y'know."

Jafar only chuckled at this attempt and faced Aladdin again. "So sorry, boy. Your second wish has been denied."

A red parrot floated on to land on Jafar's shoulder with none other than the Genie's lamp. Aladdin jumped as he noticed the missing treasure, and Sora summoned the Keyblade in one hand. This was gonna turn out_ ugly._

"I'm sorry Al."

Genie unceremoniously dropped Jasmine, until she landed in a pot grew legs, and began twitching and moving to and fro.

"And now, I bid you farewell. Attack!"

Jafar disappeared until it was only them and Jasmine who was in one of the many growing pots. A centipede-like Heartless drew all the pots together and charged the group. Sora jumped a couple feet back and heard Jasmine still yelling.

"Help!"

She began by attacking some pots toward the end, startled when she was jolted by electricity from the tail. Donald cast cure on her and she recovered to start slashing at nearby pots. Aladdin was near the front, trying to break pots up there while Donald and Goofy took the middle.

Sora knocked a pot out of the line and smashed it with success, her grin leaving her face when there was no Jasmine.

_Damnit! I thought I had her...'_

Aladdin destroyed another pot, dismayed it wasn't the princess. Had he paid more attention to the lamp Genie would still be with him and they wouldn't even have to worry about this battle. He quickly butted another out of the centipede-Heartless and broke into tiny fragments; No Jasmine still...

Sora managed to knock a couple hits on the tail while still avoiding the painful shocks. Eventually the tail disappeared and there was only the head and random pots. Jasmine could still be heard, but only faintly at this vantage.

Donald cast Fire on the pots, breaking them with ease with his magic. Goofy defended them against random charges and burst, while still managing to destroy some along the way. He and Aladdin began attacking the head together.

She felt the monster get weaker and weaker, until it convulsed violently and the pots were all broken. Jasmine was nowhere to be found, leading to her conclusion the pot she was in had gotten away during the battle. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand and sighed in frustration.

_'This is gonna be a looooooooong day...'_

--

Sora struck the finishing blow, her concentration strong and grabbed the dark lamp. She held it up towards the Genie Jafar and grinned in triumph as he wailed.

"Okay, Jafar! Back to your lamp!"

He was sucked into the lamp by stronger magicks they could ever fathom, and was gone in a poof. The lava surrounded them on the continuously moving tiles, and Sora grinned. The battle with Jafar took them from Agrabah to the cave of Wonders, but in the end the goody guys prevailed as always.

Jasmine overlooked the scene, just waking up to see Jafar defeated by Aladdin and the other girl and her friends. Things would go back to normal, she mused. She paused when footsteps sounded behind her and gasped lightly.

They were flown back up by carpet and were startled when there was no Jasmine. Sora's mind clicked as she noticed the past couple worlds they'd been to someone had disappeared. It was a little disheartening especially after a victorious battle.

_'Poor Aladdin...'_

"Jasmine? _Jasmine_!"

As Aladdin searched around, the newly revealed Keyhole glowed and Sora felt the Keyblade respond in pulses. She lifted it easily and watched as brilliant light shone from the Keyblade to the Keyhole, and the distinct sound of a click was heard.

The cave suddenly began shaking, and Sora grimaced. She tugged Aladdin onto the flying carpet and they sped for life as stalactites and heavy rocks began to tumble down. She felt bad for Aladdin since they were in the same boat as far as love; they kept vanishing.

Carpet dodged magma and more falling rocks, and never was the Keyblade master happy as she was now to exit the mouth of the head just as it collapsed into sand. Getting buried alive wasn't in her itinerary as of the moment.

They were all silent on the ride back, Jasmine's disappearance taking a heavy toll on Aladdin's nerves. Once they arrived back in Agrabah people were again on the streets, and there were no Heartless in sight. They entered Aladdin's house soon after.

"So, Jasmine's no longer in Agrabah. Sora, let's go find her."

Sora's gaze met the suddenly interesting floor. "Sorry... I can't take you with me."

"Wh-why not?"

Aladdin plopped down a nearby cushion and stared at the group. "I sure wish we could", said Goofy.

Donald shrugged. I we took him to another world we would be..."

"Muh... Mudd--"

"Meddling!"

Sora lifted her gaze and cerulean blue met dark brown. "Aladdin, we'll find Jasmine, I promise."

They took off on their adventure once more, this time with Genie helping along whenever they needed him most.

* * *

Maleficent stood in the room once more, the darkness shrouding all but herself, Riku, and Hades. "That smarmy vizier could've had 'em-- If someone had stuck around to give him a hand."

Hades pointedly looked at Riku who only shrugged indifferently. "Hey, I did my part. I brought the princess, didn't I?"

"Jafar was beyond help, consumed by his own hatred. One should be aware of letting it burn too fiercely", said Maleficent.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Lighten up. I'm as cool as they come, okay? by the way, kid, have we got something special for you."

Riku raised a brow slightly as he alternated gazing at Maleficent and Hades. She still at the moment kept he back to the silver haired boy.

"We had a deal yes? You help us, and we grant you your wish."

A picture of Kairi arose from the magical hologram, and Riku lurched toward it and uttered her name in relief.

"Go to her. Your vessel is waiting."

A man wearing the cloth of a pirated and a hook on his left hand stepped forward. He held a look to him that wasn't very intimidating, Riku mused.

"Just remember, this is no pleasure cruise. It won't be a pleasant voyage."

Riku turned suspicious eyes to Maleficent. "why are you doing all of this for me? What's the catch?"

"Catch? What's the catch? Silly boy, you're like a son to me. I only want you to be happy."

Riku recoiled from her touch. "I seriously doubt that."

"Believe what you wish. But lest we forget, I kept my end of the bargain."

It was silent for a moment that seemed like an eternity but Riku walked into the darkness, Maleficent watching with no emotion across her facade.

--

Sora's eyes cracked as she heard a weird sound outside the ship. Her dream was interrupted by the strange noise, and she climbed out of her bed to head into the cockpit. Goofy was opening fire on Heartless ships, and Donald was steering clear of most of them.

The strange noise sounded again, and this time she saw what the problem was; a huge, _freaking _whale! Sora ran to her room and grabbed her black and white jacket, in enough time to see them hurtling down through whale muscles.

_--_

_Sunshine was abundant, bathing the children in it's warm light. A seven year old Sora sat on the tree where she and a year older Riku named their spot. It was on a mini-island connected to the main one by a bridge with a bent tree._

_The young brunette's hair was tied in pig-tails, and she wore a red halter dress with sandals. Riku wore a yellow shirt with blue shorts with hair that reached the nape of his neck._

_She greeted him with a big hug as always and giggled in excitement. "What are we playing?"_

_Riku shrugged. "I don't know. We already sword fought, explored the caves, and went swimming."_

_Sora nodded in agreement to the older boy's conclusions. There wouldn't be much fun in doing the same old things they played the day before or earlier. Just as she pondered this some more, Riku's eyes lit up._

_"I know! Let's get married!"_

_A look of confusion crossed Sora's face. "What?"_

_"It's when two people promise to stay friends forever. Or that's what my mom said."_

_"So we'll stay friends no matter what?"_

_He nodded in agreement. "It's easy to do. Let's see..."_

_Riku looked around until green eyes landed on a cloth snagged on a coconut tree. His small body grabbed the base and climbed up, until he was able to easily reach it. He jumped back down and covered Sora's face, sending the girl into a larger state of confusion._

_Riku easily answered her with, "I can't see your face yet. Now, stand looking at me."_

_Sora stared at her best friend as he made a bow tie out of a nearby leaf and cleared his throat._

_"I now pronounce us man and wife."_

_"What now?"_

_Riku thought about this for a second and blinked. "I lift your veil and we-"_

_--_

Sora twitched from her position on whatever she was on, and turned to see Donald yelling and goofy holding his shield above their heads. She only raised a brow in question and stood a couple feet away.

"Hey, Sora. Are you okay?"

"What are you guys doing? Where are we anyway?"

A Hi-Potion was thrown her direction, and Sora's reflexes saved her from what would have been a _very _painful headache.

"Uh, ya know, I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us. And for today's weather: expect showers."

A potion was thrown carelessly onto Goofy's shield, bonking him nicely on the head. "Heavy showers!"

"Hey! Who's there?"

A young boy poked his head out from an open chest. "It's me!"

"Oh... It's just Pinocchio. Huh?!"

Jiminy yelled after the boy, but he didn't respond, only heading toward what looked like a shipwrecked boat. Sora ignored the lukewarm water and shook herself off before climbing on after the puppet.

"What have you got there, Pinocchio?"

"With this, we can get out of here, father."

Sora and the others watched the conversation for a few more moments until Sora interluded, "It's true. How did you guys end up here?"

The old man moved closer to the trio and introduced himself as Pinocchio's father, Geppetto. He explained about how Pinocchio came to be, to the troubles he encountered, and eventually how they came to be in the stomach of the whale.

Sora was caught in the story, so much that she didn't notice when Pinocchio sauntered off elsewhere. She blinked then looked around the boat they were on.

"Anyone see where Pinocchio went?"

The other did a quick search of the area and came to the same conclusion that she reached; Pinocchio probably wandered off where there was going to be trouble... Or at least that was her conclusion since there was never a long moment of peace.

Geppetto coughed in his hand and faced the group. "Could you please find Pinocchio? He manages to get himself in trouble often."

Sora nodded, "Sure."

The four of them moved into what looked like a tunnel and walked in silence. Sora felt a foreboding feeling assault her senses, Donald was busy thinking about Daisy, and Goofy and Jiminy held Pinocchio's welfare on their minds.

After a few minutes they entered another chamber and found Pinocchio perched behind a wall. Sora breathed in relief. "What are you doing? Come on, let's go back."

"Ya know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you."

Sora sighed in frustration when she noticed how he didn't move, before putting her hands on her hips. "Pinocchio, stop fooling around! This is no time for games!"

They all turned to leave, expecting the boy to follow if he knew what was best. A light chuckle sounded behind them, turning Sora's body a full 180 in surprise.

"But, Sora, I thought you liked games. Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"

She took a step forward with surprise now underlying slight frustration. "Riku! Where have you been? Better yet, what are you doing here?"

"Just playing with Pinocchio."

Sora raised a brow in question.

_'Something I seriously doubt.'_

"You know what I mean. What about Kairi? Did you find her?"

Riku kept the smug look on his face and seemed to think about for a moment, before tapping his chin and glancing back at the blue-eyed girl.

"Maybe. Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know."

He grabbed Pinocchio and ran off into the next room, gone before she could close the distance between them. Sora growled and moved to go through the next tunnel, Donald and Goofy following a safe distance behind.

By the time they exited the tunnel Sora went from annoyed to thoughtful. _'Riku's acting so weird...'_

Heartless began to appear, grabbing their attention quickly. Sora began her mad dash around Monstro, destroying any Heartless in her way and trying to save the barrels...

--

"Why do you still care about that girl?"

The silver-haired boy turned to face Maleficent, her interference not all that surprising. "She has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and her new companions after all."

Riku's countenance darkened. "I don't care about her. I was just messing with her a little."

"Oh, really? Of course you were", she replied in disbelief.

The dark sorceress took a couple steps toward him and held her right hand over her heart. "Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it."

Riku countered with "Mind your own business", and brooded in silence.

What was there to say about Sora? She attained the Keyblade and now her head was full of hot air. Not to mention the whole time he'd been searching endlessly for her and Kairi she managed to find some new friends to replace them.

As far as he was concerned Kairi only mattered now. When he found her maybe they could explore other worlds together. A clicking sound caught his attention, and Riku turned his head to the farther open tunnel. Pinocchio came running out, soon followed by Sora and her... Companions.

"Riku!"

His gaze left the retreating puppet to face the brunette. "What's the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora. You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days."

Sora's expression turn to hurt, and he took a dark pleasure in watching it contort. "Do you even want to save Kairi?"

"I do..."

A yell resounded through the chamber, and both parties glanced at the tunnel Pinocchio trampled down. Riku quickly went in, and Sora brooded for a moment.

_'Have I really changed...?'_

Donald squawked loudly, and grabbed Sora to pull her through the tunnel and from her thoughts. Normally he would make a comment on her slow processing movement but it was better left for later. They entered the room to find Pinocchio in a cage-like Heartless with swinging appendages.

Sora stopped next to Riku after shaking off Donald's hand to gape at the Heartless before them. Riku nudged her shoulder with his. "You up for this?"

She glanced at him with a smirk, their earlier exchange of words forgotten for now. "No problem. Let's do it!"

He and Donald ran to the right of the Heartless, while she and Goofy took the left. Rolling out the way of one of the 'arms' Sora began hacking away until it shook and caught her in the abdomen, sending her flying a couple feet back.

She ran back to the arm and attacked relentlessly with Goofy, grinning when the arm hung limply. Using the arm as leverage was a piece of cake, and the Keyblade wielder swung in quick and narrow arcs until the cage part opened fractionally.

Riku zeroed in on the upper body once Sora changed her target to the cage and unleashed a burst of dark energy at the upper part. The whole thing jumped in retaliation and swung it's arms wildly, this time catching Donald and sending him into a nearby wall.

Sora cast cure on her comrade and used 'Sonic Blade' on the cage. The Heartless returned favor by swinging the entire body in her direction, sending her flying into another nearby wall. She breathed deeply to replace her lost air, and ran back to the scene.

Riku watched her get thrown back into the wall, and knew that would hurt later. He was almost surprised at how she was knocked down and parried the thing. Not to say he wasn't getting thrown back sometimes, just that the thing had some real momentum.

The Heartless swung one of the arms at the older teen, who managed to flip out the way but was still hit. He now sported a bleeding scrape across his forearm.

"Riku!"

Riku narrowed his eyes and retaliated with a well placed kick to the cage part and used the force to drive him up to swing wildly but accurate at the Heartless. It slumped over and Goofy and Donald took this as cue to go for the cage.

Sora ran t his side and pulled a handkerchief over the scrape and pulled a pigtail loose from it's ribbon to secure to on-the-run bandage over his arm. Riku watched Silently, and grabbed her bridal style to avoid the oncoming body of the Heartless.

Sora blinked in surprise before regaining her footing and going on with the battle. After a little while longer of them on the offense, the Heartless grabbed the tissue of Monstro above them and spat Pinocchio into a hole in the middle of the room.

Riku jumped in after it and the Heartless disappeared within a hole in the ceiling. Sora jumped in after Riku and Pinocchio, noting she was missing her other ribbon too. They landed back at the boat to find Geppetto staring elsewhere.

"Pinocchio! Pinocchio! Please! Give me back my son!"

Riku stood on a much higher up structure of wood, Pinocchio held under his arms. "Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet."

"He's no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!"

Sora moved to stand next to Geppetto, feeling betrayal as Riku withheld the puppet from the old man. Just when things seemed alright...

"He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."

"Wait a minute. Are you talking about Kairi?"

"What do you care about her?"

The frustration from earlier attacked her senses and Sora ran a hand through her shoulder length chocolate tresses.

_'How will we get out of here?'_

-----------------------

Riku stood later in what seemed to be a large cabin with Kairi's prone figure lying on a couch. The telltale rocking gave way to a ship and, Riku's expression could only be described as disheartened.

"So, Kairi's like a lifeless puppet now?"

"Precisely", Maleficent replied.

Riku's fist balled up tightly, grasping a yellow ribbon matching the one that was on his bandage. "And her heart was..."

"Taken by the Heartless, no doubt."

The silver-haired teen turned around quickly and his voice sounded almost desperate. "Tell me! What can I do?"

"There are seven maidens of the purest heart. We call them the princesses of heart. Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There you will surely find a way to recover Kairi's heart."

Riku watched with rapt interest, sticking to ever word she uttered.

_'So, Kairi can be saved?'_

"Now, I will grant you a marvelous gift. The power to control the Heartless

His body began to bask in the glow of the dark power, giving off a green aura to the naked eye. He felt much stronger, and turned to face Kairi.

"Soon, Kairi. Soon."

-----------------------

Sora sat in her room on the Gummi ship, thinking over the events that day. They were eaten by a whale, she (_finally_)found Riku, met a talking puppet, and was sneezed out by a whale. All in all a pretty average day for the trio.

What was really on her mind were a couple of things that all pointed in the same direction. One would be that Riku seemed rather standoffish. Two would be the remark about lifeless puppets and helping someone I know. Did that mean Kairi lost her heart?

The third would be that dream she had earlier about when they were children. That wedding procession led them to the Secret place where they scribbled in pictures of the other. Hers turned out horrid and his was much better.

Sora fell back onto her bed as her lids grew heavier with all the thoughts flying through her cranium. The only way to answer any of the questions floating in there would be to find Riku and Kairi.

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DarkYoruichi: That's all for this chapter! Reviews are welcome, and lookout for pictures that will pop up in my profile.

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	6. Nights in Neverland

Sesshomaru-Lover93: A nice fresh breath of air for a new chapter! With this chapter will try to explain anything I may not have been to clear on and add new twists for fun. That's all for KH corner

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Sora Steered the Gummi ship through space, actively thinking about her own journey. There were many worlds she never would have known, people she would never meet, and things she wouldn't have seen if Destiny Islands weren't devoured by the darkness. And yet here she was just wishing things could go back to normal.

They'd left Atlantica about a day ago. It was an... Eye opener to say the least. Sora really felt like her friendship with Ariel helped to understand Riku a little bit better. Ariel longed to see new worlds, just as Riku had. They were similar in aspirations, but Sora was sure that Ariel wouldn't run off in darkness. No, her heart was best suited in light.

There wasn't anything different to what usually happens; Arrival, problems, Heartless, princess M.I.A, battle, departure. This time though Ariel had not gone M.I.A. for very long.

She wondered what Riku was up to more often too. They way he'd acted in Monstro was rather weird, almost like he was shoving her aside. And somehow she got the feeling that wasn't about to get any better. Better yet, where was Kairi? Sora had no idea if the other girl was okay or even found.

_'What's going on with you Riku?'_

A beep sounded from the dashboard where Goofy sat, and he studied it closely. "Gawrsh fellas, I think we've got something."

Donald moved over to where Goofy sat, and blinked in wonder. "Is that _ship_? Looks like it's headed right for us!"

Sora turned back to her own screen and zeroed in on the radar. A large Pirate ship was moving on them fast, and she gaped in surprise as it yielded no sign of stopping.

"Can we avoid it?"

Donald shook his head quickly. "No! It's already too close!"

"... Let's land."

Goofy turned to face the teenage girl. "Are ya sure, Sora?"

"Yup. Donald, can you get us on there before they hit us?"

The ship at this point was looming maybe a hundred or so meters away from them, and it was gaining quickly. Donald raised his staff with a cry, and the ship warped just as the collision would've occurred.

----

Sora blinked wearily and sat up slowly, her head clearing with the movement. The gentle rocking she felt signaled they landed on the moving ship. She thanked Donald silently and stood to brush off any dirt on her clothes. Probably landed at the bow of the ship if the structure were any indication.

Curiosity caught the better of her, and she moved from behind her box and walked to the very front of the boat. Donald and Goofy were no where in sight, and this was a pirate ship as she learned from the flag. Steps sounded behind her, and breath hitched in Sora's throat as she faced the sound.

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora. Good to see you again."

"Where are Donald and Goofy?"

His eyes burned into hers. "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends? Instead of worrying about them you should be asking-"

He took a step to the side."-About her."

"Kairi!" All this time she spent looking for her friend, and Riku was the one to find her.

Riku held a mixture of smug and cold contempt on his face. Sora noticed how Kairi's eyes were blank, and her face expressionless. There was for certain something off about her, but Sora couldn't put on finger on it.

"That's right. While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

Sora ran towards the two, but was stopped by a man in red with a hook. "Not so fast. No shenanigans aboard my vessel, girl."

Blue eyes searched green almost desperately. "Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?"

"The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear."

The silver-haired teen said this with stern conviction. Sora blinked as hairs on the back of her neck stood on her neck. Her gaze turned heated and she glared full-heartedly.

"You're being stupid, Riku! Sooner or later they'll swallow your heart."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Not a chance. My heart's too strong."

"Riku..."

"I've picked out a few other tricks as well. Like this, for instance."

Riku held his hand up to Sora, making her jump back when a dark form of her appeared. It was pretty creepy seeing as the thing resembled her uncannily well, down to all her clothes and even her facial looks. It just seemed like a more sadistic view of her.

"You can go see your friends now."

A hole opened beneath Sora's feet and she yelped in surprise as she fell down the shaft. Riku stared the hole and the ribbon around his wrist before facing to the man in the red clothing.

"Let's get underway, already. And keep Sora away from Kairi until we're ready to land."

----

"You don't say", said Goofy.

Sora had a small smile etched on her face. "Yeah, it was definitely Kairi. I finally found her."

"All right! Then let's go up and talk to her."

"Yeah!"

Donald fidgeted before looking at the other two."Sounds great, but first... how bout getting off!"

Sora scratched he back of her head before stepping away from the other two. Moving to the door, a clearing of someones throat caught her attention.

"How ya doin' there? Looking for a way out?"

A figure jumped from behind some of the barrels, clad in a green tunic and tight-like pants. Sora almost whistled in a gesture of _wow._ His hair was a colorful red-orange, much brighter than Kairi's raspberry locks.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the answer to your prayers."

They all stood in silence for the moment, the only sound from Donald tapping his foot impatiently. The boy ran a hand through his bright mane "Okay, then. Have it your way."

Sora raised a brow. "But you're stuck in here too, aren't you?"

"No. I'm just waiting for someone."

"Who?"

A bright light shimmered around Sora, and she twirled around curiously to see what. The light moved over to the boy in green and twinkled out slightly, revealing what looked like a fairy.

"Tinker Bell, what took you so long?"

Chimes came from the pixie that only he seemed to understand.

"So did you find Wendy?"

Another couple of chimes and twinkles. "Hold on. There was another girl there, too?"

Sora watched the exchange with sudden interest now. "Are you crazy? There is no way I'm gonna leave Wendy there!"

Donald laughed suddenly. "She must be pretty jealous."

Both Sora and Tinker Bell gave Donald a dark look. Sora understood all too well the feeling, since all Riku seemed to care about recently _was _Kairi. She figured how he felt about the red-head, and it certainly wasn't the apathetic attitude he was giving her.

Tinker Bell brooded for a moment before kicking Donald square under his bill. She flew out the open slot, and the older boy sighed.

"C'mon Tink, open up the door!"

A cough resounded from Sora, and the boy Held his hand out. "I'm Peter Pan."

"I'm Sora."

Just as she was about to grasp his hand, Peter pulled it away quickly.

"Okay, we're in this together, but only 'til we find Wendy."

The group of four left the room to be confronted with Heartless. Sora grasped the Keyblade, and knocked the nearest one to her against a wall, defeating it easily. The others worked on Heartless themed after this worlds pirates, and she slashed away at the one resembling her.

It was the most annoying Heartless she _ever_ came across, since all it seemed to do was move out the way, dance idiotically, or talk like when she first woke up. This one was gone after quite a few well placed hits, and Sora kept the blade out and ready at her side.

This was the first time their routine of exploring a new world was changed to arrival, battle. After finishing up with the Heartless, the group climbed up a ladder and went through a door on the right. There was no where to go but down, so they climbed down a ladder into the ship's freezer.

Sora shivered involuntarily, and searched out another route from where they came. She let out a 'aha!' and climbed up the next ladder with Peter, Donald and Goofy. They entered a room with a some crates and a door that led to somewhere else.

"So, uh, how come you can fly?", asked Goofy.

"Anyone can fly. You wanna try?"

Peter Pan whistled, and tinker Bell entered their view. "Aw, haven't you cooled off yet Tink?"

He grabbed the pixie by the wings flew over their heads, on the way saying "Just a little bit of Pixie dust. There now you can fly."

Donald began flapping his wings erratically, and Sora was amazed at how he began to float up. Well, until he crashed down with a resounding_ 'thud'_. Tinker bell seemed to be in better spirits though.

----

"What?! So Wendy's not one of the chosen ones?"

"There are seven, supposedly. And Maleficent says she's not one of them."

Riku turned his back to the man in red. "Hoist anchor as soon as possible. Leave all the dead weight behind, including her."

Captain Hook shook, his body seething in anger and irritation at the young boy before him. "After the trouble of capturing her? And why those seven? What is Maleficent planning anyway?"

"Who knows. As long as it means getting Kairi's heart back, I couldn't care less."

Hook grunted and placed his hand on a hip. "You're wasting your time! The heartless have devoured that girl's heart. I'll stake me other hand it's lost forever."

Riku's body at this point was stock still from the man's words. Not from fear or anger, but from cleared thinking. "I will find it no matter what."

"Uh, captain?"

Smee's voice sounded from a pipe in the room. "What is it Mr. Smee?"

"The prisoners have escaped. What's more, Peter Pan is with them."

"Blast that Peter Pan!"

Riku was listening intently to the conversation. It wasn't private since both men were talking loudly. Sora was becoming more of a nuisance since Monstro.

"All right, then! Bring the hostage to me cabin, Smee! Hop to it!"

----

Tinker Bell began chiming and making soft noises frantically, catching the group's attention. "What is it Tink?"

Peter flew up to the ceiling where there were two netted squares on the ceiling, one with a hole. A soft creak invaded their ears, and light footsteps were heard from the room without the hole.

"Peter? Peter Pan?"

A girl with short brown hair and a long blue dress moved over to the net. "Wendy!"

"Please hurry! The pirates are coming!"

"What! I'll be right up there! Just hold on!" Pulled out his knife and began inspecting the net's thickness. Definitely something he could be cut given a few minutes.

Sora shuffled her feet anxiously. "Wendy?"

"Yes?"

"Is there another girl in there with you?"

Wendy turned her head to gaze at the other girl for a moment. "Oh, yes. But she seems to be asleep. She hasn't budged an inch."

"Kairi? Kairi!"

Sora moved closer to the net and held her hand out. She grinned as she saw finger twitch, and gave a silent thanks. It was short lived as the door slammed open, and she was taken out of sight.

"Wendy! Hey, let's get up there!"

They shimmied their way up the hole and walked into the nearest room. Looking around, it looked to be the same one Wendy and Kairi were in a few moments ago. A ladder was down and Sora was up first, followed by the other three.

Sora rushed into the room, and skidded to a stop at the door to what she presumed was outside. "Riku, wait!"

He took a step back with Kairi in his arms, and darkness began seeping into the room to form another Dark Sora, shielding the other two from view.

Sora pulled her Keyblade out and swung fast and hard at the look-alike, surprised when it didn't go like the others. Peter Pan made a rooster sound and spun towards the thing, attacking with his knife.

Donald cast gravity, squawking in protest when it did nothing but turn the thing's attention to him. Goofy blocked the oncoming attack and retaliated with swinging his shield at the unguarded Heartless.

"Hahahaha!", the thing said lazily before it began dancing. Really badly.

Donald and Goofy chuckled until the real Sora gave them a flat look. Peter glanced at Sora, who was shaking in anger. "That thing is nothing like me!"

Sora used strike raid, relieved when the thing stopped and began fighting again.

--

The group (plus Wendy) watched in satisfaction when Captain Hook was chased off into the distance. Sora almost felt bad for the man since he was screaming like a child, but changed her mind when she remembered how things turned out.

She moved to stand against a railing that overlooked the dark water, the moonlight and stars reflecting in a shimmer. Once they disposed of that annoying Heartless they left through the door and came face-to-face with Hook and quite a few Heartless. They could have avoided him altogether if he didn't have poor Tink in a lamp.

She walked the plank, and surprisingly didn't fall to be eaten by the waiting crocodile. Remembering Peter Pan's words of wisdom from earlier helped her fly, and from there the Heartless weren't even a problem.

After that they fought Hook, which was difficult until they knocked him into the water. Doing so halted the battle and sent the man where he was now. Somewhere trying to get far away from the ticking crocodile.

Mainly what feathered on Sora's mind was Riku. Why was he so intent on siding with the Heartless? There was nothing to be gained out of trusting people who manipulated another persons heart. Her thoughts were so busy she didn't hear the whispers behind her.

"Uh, Kairi couldn't wake up, so maybe she's really lost her--"

"Shh!"

Peter looked from the two the rest his gaze on the younger girl. "Sora..."

"I still can't believe it. I really flew. Wait til' I tell Kairi. Though she will probably hit me on the head for it..."

"You can bring her to Neverland sometime. Then she can try it herself."

Sora turned her gaze to her friends. "If you believe, you can do anything, right? I'll find Riku and Kairi."

Tinkerbell shimmered into view and began talking with Peter. Sora raised a brow and simply watched in interest since she could never understand anything she said. The pixies gestures however were easily read.

"Tink said there's something at the clock tower."

Peter grabbed Wendy and began flying, nodding at the others to follow. Sora watched in question when Peter directed them towards a star that seemed far away. Seemed was the right word for as they were in the clouds, a portal opened and they were floating in a tunnel of sorts with splashes of color everywhere.

After a few moments they left it and ended up in a large city. It looked much different to what Sora was used to seeing on all the other worlds they visited, and yet it was interesting. Lights were on all across the city, and smack dab next to where they ended up was a huge clock tower.

Sora flew a quick round about it, and screeched to a stop when she noticed something odd. Three of the sides read twelve midnight, while one read elven forty-five. She hit it a couple of times and all the clocks chimed when it reached twelve. The others came over from their spots to watch as a keyhole revealed itself.

She pointed the Keyblade at the keyhole and watched in satisfaction as light shot from it and a _click _was heard.

--

_Nine year-old Sora stared at the dark walls of the cave, her thoughts wandering. She wore a white t-shirt with blue rimming and red shorts. "Hey, Sora."_

_"Hm?"_

_Her blue eyes shifted to those of her friend Riku, who unlike her wore a yellow sleeveless shirt and dark blue shorts. "When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on adventures, not this kid stuff!"_

_They both began to leave the cave, both feeling the weight of Riku's thoughts. "Sure. But isn't there anything fun to do now?"_

_"Hey, you know that new girl at the mayors house?"_

_"She arrived the night of the meteor shower!"_

_Sora took no note of her silent friends answer. Riku stared at the strange door that held a keyhole...  
_

--

Riku's harsh breathing permeated the empty silence of the chamber. He moved so he was resting on one knee, and his breathing slowed down a little.

"It was reckless of you to bring her here without at least using a vessel. Remember, relying to heavily on the dark powers can cost you your heart."

A loud sound resounded through the castle, and Riku stood up quickly to look around. Whatever made that sound was something big. And definitely angry by the force of it.

"A castaway. Though his world perished, he did not. When we took the princess from the castle he followed her through sheer force of will-"

Riku gazed at her in disinterest. "-But fear not, no harm will come to you. He is no match for your power."

"My power?"

"Yes, the untapped power that lies within you. It's time you awakened that power, and realized your full potential!"

A green light enveloped Riku's body, and the silver haired teen stared in wonder.

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That's all folks! Woo, took me a while to feel my muse come back. Sorry also about how long because my computer crashed and all my files and data were lost. Took out my eight hundred and eighty songs I had too. So I've had little Internet access. Feel free to review =]


	7. World of Heartless pt 1

Sesshomaru-Lover93: Well here's to a new chapter in Memory with you

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_Sora was soaring through the darkness, rays of light spearing it from a source so close and yet so far away. A great flash blinded her, until she became spectator to an old woman in a Library. A little girl ran to her, and the old woman smiled.  
_

_'Where am I?'_

_"Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves, and darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared.-"_

"-_But small fragments of light survived in the hearts of children. With these small fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost 's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But some day, a door to the innermost darkness will open.-"_

_"And the true light will return. So ,listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with it's power and push the darkness away. Do you understand, Kairi?"  
_

_'Kairi?!'_

_The old woman was gone, leaving the young Kairi to look around curiously. Sora reached for her and felt a force push her back._

_----_

Sora snapped from her half-aware state to look around their new environment. Waterfalls with reversed flows surrounded them, with floating rocks and boulders looming ahead. A great castle loomed in the distance, the only sign of civilization. There she was sure they would find what they have all been searching for.

She took a careful step and looked on in wonder as she walked on the water. Apparently this world had different physics than her own. Donald moved past her and jumped onto a nearby floating rock, and gave her an expectant look.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Sora held back the urge to snort and begin the long climb up. This world of Hallow Bastion was new to all of them, and at the same time for some reason it felt familiar. It was unnervingly quiet too, without a person in sight. You would think that with this being the fortress Maleficent was used that a Heartless would pop up along the way, but so far everything had been in the clear. It was a bit ominous, and only kept the Keybearer on her toes.

The thought of finding Riku burned strongly in her head, but at the same Sora felt an uncertainty of what could happen. Riku had been acting weirdly ever since they reunited. No, since the day their Island was swallowed by the darkness Riku had morphed into something with no semblance of what was her best friend. Her mind burned with the idea of the battles they would face. With Maleficent staying on this world would it mean the concentration of Heartless was much heavier than all previous worlds?

Donald snuck a glance at Goofy and then Sora, noticing that their eyes were unfocused, their thoughts being elsewhere. He couldn't blame them, with the building stress of having to lock the keyholes and search for the King he himself had been on edge.

A thunderous roar shook the air around them, sending the group of three into painful attention. Donald peered around with a confused expression.

"What was _that_?"

The group began climbing the rocks at a much faster pace, all senses bordering on the edge of overdrive. It was hard not to be after hearing something like that not too far away from their location. Sora soon found herself moving faster when she saw two figures on a rock that served as a platform. One was much larger than the other, but what really caught her eye was the silver hair of the smaller form.

"Riku!"

She quickly landed on the platform between the two. It took less than a millisecond for her to figure out what happened; the two were fighting and Riku won by the look of it. Sora clenched her hands into tight fists.

"So, you've finally made it. About time, I've been waiting for you."

_'Riku...'_

"We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you. "

The brunette relaxed slightly, her mind ringing giant warning bells, her body wanting to knock him a good one, and her heart wanting him to understand why she competed with him all these years.

"But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade masters."

"What are you talking about?"

Riku continued to stare at Sora with an aloof look before letting his hand reach out, as if to grasp something. "Let the Keyblade choose it's true master!"

In a show of light Sora felt something disconnect inside, and blinked when she noticed the Keyblade no longer rested at her side. Donald and Goofy started in surprise, and the missing weapon reappeared in Riku's hands. He tested it's weight curiously before staring at the group.

"Maleficent was right. You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door, and change the world."

"But that's impossible! How did this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

"You were just the delivery girl. Sorry, your part's over now."

Her chest burned at these words. Whoever this was that stood before her, it wasn't Riku. "Here, go play hero with this."

When the silver-haired teen threw a wooden sword at her feet Sora's knees suddenly couldn't handle her weight. She fell to her hands and knees, her mind shocked from what Riku revealed. Why did the Keyblade appear to her if it were only going to be given to Riku? If she thought about it, Riku was able to take it all that time ago when she met him in Traverse Town... Was everything they'd done so far all for nothing?

Footsteps sounded away from her, signaling to the group of Riku's departure. "Goofy, let's go. We have to remember our mission."

"Oh, well I know the King told us to follow the Key and all... But...."

The two began following after the older teen and Sora took a deep breath. "Sora, sorry."

Not too long after she could no longer hear Donald and Goofy, the big guy who fought Riku began to stir. She looked up in confusion as he continued limping toward the looming castle. She quickly got up and walked over to the hunched being, grasping his shoulders.

"Hey, don't move! You''re hurt..."

"Why... Why did you... you come here? I came to fight for Belle. And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here."

With that resolve he stood up, easily towering over the young girl, and began limping once more towards the castle. . She had to give it to him, he sure didn't give up easily. It made Sora feel bad about almost giving up completely. She glanced at the wooden sword, and grabbed it. It wouldn't do much good to fight Heartless with, but it was better than walking around defenseless with a target strapped to her forehead.

"I've decided I'm not gonna give up either. I came here to find my friends."

_'Even though one pretty much hates me'_, she mused.

The pair moved to the edge of the strange waterfalls, until a caged gate enveloped them both, bringing them to the Castle gates.

* * *

If there was anyone having a bad day in all the worlds that she had traveled to and beyond, Sora was sure a sign hung over her head proclaiming '_Chalk full of teen angst_'. It was still annoying losing even the Keyblade to Riku, and then came the Heartless. They were sadly much stronger here, and a lot more concentrated. She went from Keyblade master to hiding behind Beast until he trounced through all of them. The best part is when more pop up from where the last were.

She was sure even boy scout Hercules could have had a day quite like this one. Fire hit a small spot against the Castle wall above her head, alerting the young teen to a Red Nocturne. She replied oh so nicely with Blizzaga and quickly slipped inside the open Castle doors. Beast came in silently after her, and made a noise she couldn't decipher.

"Be on your guard. They're close, I can feel them. Are you ready for them?"

Sora ignored his words and proceeded further into the foyer, her senses on high alert. An angry roar sounded behind her, and the brunette turned to see Beast run into what she tell was an well placed trap. "Beast!"

"Quit while you can."

Sora crossed her arms in what she hoped was an intimidating stance. "No, not without Kairi."

Riku's outfit changed from his usual yellow shirt and blue pants to something that looked like muscle chords with a Heartless insignia on the chest. Her arms fell to her sides and indignation from earlier came boiling up.

"Then the darkness will destroy you."

"You're wrong Riku. The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends, it'll never die!"

The silver haired teen cracked his neck slowly. "Really...We'll just see about that!"

A burst of dark energy poured forth from Riku's hands, the target intended being Sora's heart. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, blinking when there was none. Sora blinked slowly at Goofy's back, feeling a hint of a smile pull at her lips.

"Sora ain't gonna go anywhere!"

"You'd betray your King?"

"Not on your life!"

Goofy turned to face the younger teen and smiled. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora either, because she's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together."

Sora 's slight smile turned into a small grin at Goofy's words. He sure knew how to make her feel much better about what started out as a crappy day. Pondering didn't do much for the situation at hand since she missed whatever Donald said. He ran over not too long after though, leading the girl to assume he was back with Team Sora.

"Well, you know. All for one and one for all."

"I guess you're stuck with us, Sora."

She looked at the ground for a second, finding the intricate tiles suddenly much more fascinating than a minute ago. "Thanks Donald, Goofy."

"How will you fight without a weapon?"

Sora gave a strained grin before shaking her head. Whomever it was before her, she knew he'd lost his way. "I know now I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart."

"Feh. Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"It's may be weak. But at least it's not alone. My heart has grown with every new experience, and found a home in all of the friends I made. They've become part of me, just like I've become part of them. They are my power!"

The brunettes gaze fell to her hands as the Keyblade dematerialized from Riku's hand and reappeared in hers. Her eyes then fell back to Riku who looked like he had been slapped. His clothes changed from the weird outfit back to his regular clothes, and he ran out of sight.

"So, your heart won this battle?"

Sora turned to Beast and nodded.

------------------------

His heavy breathing permeated the silence, as the silver-haired teen ran through the dark hall. "Why? It was mine..."

"Know this."

Riku skidded to a halt at the mysterious voice. He turned to see an odd person with shimmering energy about them, all the while feeling hairs on his body stand at attention.

"The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade."

"So, you're saying my hearts weaker than hers?"

The figure nodded. "For that instant, it was."

Riku looked down at his feet in defeat, his anger at the situation replaced by something he hadn't felt in years from competing with Sora; total lost. The voice spoke again, bringing his attention back to the odd stranger.

"However, you can become stronger. You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness. It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will grow even stronger."

"What should I do?"

"It's really quite simple. Open yourself to the darkness. That is all. Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself."

Green light began emanating from Riku's body, and he felt the power course through his body.

-----------------------------------------------

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Beast. What a weird group they made, Sora mused as they passed through the doors Riku disappeared in minutes before. She was happy though that in the end Donald and Goofy would risk disloyalty to their King for her. The hallway ended, and lead to a tower full of cages that could lead all over the Castle.

The group pushed into the nearest one and watched in concealed awe as it lead to an area outside near the main gates. Five Wyvern appeared, spurring the group into battle. Sora leaped into the air and brought the Keyblade down hard enough to destroy it with one blow.

A Wyvern not being attacked at the moment raked it's talons at Sora's back, barely nicking her. She twisted around and cast Firaga, watching as it and the other three all went down. Sora muttered a cure spell to fix the scrape along her shoulder and jumped onto the large cage waiting.

She stepped on after the others and the cage door closed as it carried them to an area with a large chuck of rock, a small staircase, and a entrance leading back inside the castle. The group took the small entrance and found themselves at another Lift stop. There were two cages this time, one nearest to them and the other around a curve. Sora went to the cage around the curve and grinned as it took her a level up.

As the other three took turns in the smaller cage, Sora noticed one of the doors had intricate carvings framing the door. With Donald, Goofy, and Beast behind her, they walked along the new hallway. This hallway led into what Sora assumed to be the Castle Chapel.

"I'm afraid you're too late. Any moment now the final Keyhole will be unsealed, this world will be plunged into darkness! It is, unstoppable."

Sora summoned the Keyblade once more and fell into her fighting stance. "We'll see! After coming this far, there's no way we're going to let that happen!"

Maleficent's turned even darker and she yelled "You poor simple fools! You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil!"


	8. World of Heartless pt 2

Sesshomaru022: I know that updating last chapter took me a while, my account gets lonely after a while of time out of school. Anyways, enjoy this chapter of Memory With You!

* * *

Sora watched calmly as Maleficent disappeared within the dark realm opening. What surprised her was that even after the witch had gone from sight her portal still lingered. Nodding to the others, the group stepped through and found themselves in another part of the Castle. As they jogged to the receding figure of Maleficent, Sora saw Riku standing beside her in the weird clothes he donned earlier. She stopped once they had a good distance apart.

Donald's eyes widened slightly. "Is that-"

"-Yes, a Keyblade. But unlike yours, this Keyblade holds the power to unlock peoples hearts. Allow me to demonstrate."

Sora nearly jumped out of her skin as Riku spun and pierced Maleficent's heart. A strange light ran along the length of the Keyblade and surrounded her chest, illuminating the disturbing sight. "Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!"

And with that said, Riku disappeared within a dark portal that closed behind him. Sora was surprised Maleficent was still standing, but summoned the Keyblade in apprehension as the witch began emanting dark energy.

"This is it! This power! Darkness... The true darkness!"

The young teen braced her arm over her face as brigt green flames rose from the floor. As the bright light began to die down slightly she noticed Maleficent was no longer standing in human form, but had transformed into a large black dragon. It swung its tail around, catching Beast and knocking into a nearby wall. Donald cast aero on the group before heading to the creatures front.

She gripped the Keyblade tightly, and summoned Genie. "Hey kid-"

Genie pushed her head down as a flaming green fireball just missed the top of her head. "Thanks. Think you can distract her?"

He grinned widely and began circling Maleficent, pulling her attention away from the Keybearer for a moment. This gave Sora enough time to climb upon her back and commence attack the head. Goofy used his shield to block attacks headed for him and Donald and Beast used this as time to help her.

Maleficent countered with shooting balls of flames all over the place, with each intent on the nearest heat source. Sora motioned to Donald who cast stop at that moment, killing to circling flames. Sora unleashed strike raid with all intensity, until the dragon began to move once more.

Its tail swung and this time hit the teen, sending her rolling into a giant root growing out from the wall. Sora climbed the root and jumped onto Maleficent's back and simultaneously stabbed the dragon and cast blizzaga. The dragon blundered for a moment before it finally met the ground. Sora jumped off just as it burst into green flames once more. The only thing left of the witch was dark matter splayed across the tiled floor.

"How ironic. She was just another puppet after all."

Sora frowned at how weird Riku's voice was, as if two people were speaking at once. Donald squawked a confused "What?"

"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning. She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool."

Riku stepped back through a dark portal, leaving the group pondering his last words. Sora felt the Keyblade disappear for the moment and reentered the dark portal that took them to where they first fought Maleficent. There was a new corridor that hadn't been there not too long ago and the four walked through it fully alert. They had defeated all of those who were involved with Maleficent except...

_'Riku...'_

-------------------------------

Donald, Goofy, and Beast entered the room after the Keybearer cautiously. Sora nearly balked as she looked at the walls that quickly lead into a much larger part of the room. If she wasn't sure where Princess Jasmine and Alice were she was now. The lay entombed in odd crystals that made them appear as if they were simply asleep. Beast hurried to one of a woman with a yellow dress, and touched her prison as if to caress her face.

She ran as fast as she could up the next set and her eyes widened as she reached the platform. "Kairi!"

The used one arm to lift her head and the other to steady the unconscious girl. Ever since they were separated on the Islands Kairi had been acting strange, as if she didn't recognize her. What was wrong with her?

"Kairi! Kairi! open your eyes!"

"It's no use. That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up."

Sora set Kairi down before turning to face Riku. She noticed for the first time how his eyes had a flat look of disregard for everything. No, even as he fought with her there had at least been some kind emotion burning in those depths.

"You're not Riku."

He carried on as if she said nothing. "The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last princess of heart still sleeps."

Sora lifted a brow in a mixture of confusion and incredulity. Well then, that might explain some of the annoying tendencies her raspberry-haired had. Like how she loved to joke about how Sora acted much like a boy most of the time...

"The princess? Kairi's a princess?"

"Yes, and without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she reawakened."

Sora felt her mood turn from weird calm to anger. This guy was really grating on her nerves. "Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"

"But first, you must give the Princess back her heart."

He did something with his Keyblade, Sora wasn't to sure of what, and her chest felt like it was on fire. She fell to her hands and kness, trying to catch her breath and minutely heard Donald cry out her name. She looked up to see him walking closer to her.

"Can't you see? The Princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

Her eyes would have widened in surprise if she weren't so uncomfortable with breathing. Kairi within her? She loved her friend but at the same time this was some really screwed up joke someone decided to play on her.

"Kairi... Kairi's inside me?"

_'That's kind of disturbing...._'

"I know all that there is to know."

He stood in front of the large keyhole, the dark aura of him making Sora's stomach twist in discomfort. Just being around this guy was giving her bad vibes, Sora mused. She focused on his still figure, her eyes burning into his. "Tell me. Who are you?"

"It is I. Ansem, the seeker of darkness."

Sora blinked as he began advancing toward her prone figure, Keyblade in hand. Donald squawked loudly again, and charged Ansem head on. She grimaced as he went sailing through the air and landed outside the

"So, now I shall release you, Princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!"

_'Sora!'_

Metal met with metal as Sora threw her force against the Keyblade able to do what it did to Maleficent. If she could avoid it, that wasn't going to happen. She rose with renewed strength and knocked his attack to the side, immediately pulling herself up and holding the Keyblade in a defensive stance.

Ansem began slowly circling her, building up tension in Sora's limbs until it was nearly unbearable. She kept eyes focused on his entire body, leaving no part of him from her gaze. From what she saw of that Keyblade it would only take one wrong move for him to finish her.

The silver-haired boy lunged for her so suddenly the younger girl barely had a moment to roll out of the way, before his Keyblade made contact with the floor she previously occupied. Sora felt magic gather beneath her fingertips before unleashing strike raid. The first connected and knocked Ansem off balance before she summoned it to her hands and the two Keyblades clanged against each other, each person not willing to give in to the other.

Sora eyed the person before her and chanced a quick look into his eyes. They were still like Riku's on the outside, but she knew from the mysterious way his eyes seemed brighter than normal that something was definitely possessing her friend. She cursed silently and cast aero before rushing him without warning.

He easily deflected her attack away before retaliating with a swift blow across Sora's abdomen. She felt her breath hitch and eyes tear up but nonetheless kept up her defense. Sora had come too far to find Riku and Kairi, and the guy possessing Riku was not about to stop her now. She dodge rolled an attack of sheer dark power shaped like a disc and caught his back, unleashing arcanum. He paused for a moment, and the keyblade fell from his hands.

"Riku!"

She ran forward to catch him but he was gone in a burst of darkness before she reached him. "Sora! Sora, look!"

"The... The Keyhole!"

Ignoring the lingering frustration from her encounter with the person Sora moved closer to Donald and Goofy and pointed the Keyblade at the Keyhole, confused when there was no magic gathering within. She put the Keyblade away and glanced at the other two in question. Goofy snapped his fingers in realization and took another look at the Keyhole.

"It won't work, the Keyhole's not finished yet!"

"What do we do?"

Donald turned back to Kairi's prone form lying some feet away. "Maybe we gotta go wake Kairi up."

Sora nodded in agreement. "If we can free her heart...But how...?"

She noticed the Keyblade Riku was using some moments ago still lying on the floor not to far from the Keyhole. _'A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts... I wonder.' _She moved away from Donald and Goofy, eyes locked on the dark Keyblade. Hefting it up in her hands she distantly heard Donald and Goofy yelling at her to stop. But she already knew it was the only way to save Kairi.

The young teen took a deep breath and smiled at Donald and Goofy before thrusting the Keyblade into her heart. A numbness overtook her, a feeling like she was being torn apart. Magic began to swarm around her body, the Keyblade becoming nothing as the other princesses hearts were returned.

Another heart was released, this time from Sora and flew over to enter Kairi. Donald and Goofy ran down the stairs screaming her name but Sora could barely hear or see them rubbed her head as she woke to see golden magic surrounding Sora as she fell."Sora!". Even as she grabbed for her friend, Sora's diminishing form disappeared as the magic scattered all around the room. Donald jumped at the scattering magic and yelled "Sora! come back Sora!"

--

_'What... What's happening to me? I'm falling.... falling into darkness..'

* * *

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End file.
